Tenten for President
by Dcfan100
Summary: Republicans, Democrats, sexism, and a whole lot of insanity in the game of life, but hey, when a game gets rid of its rules it's not a game anymore, it's politics. NejiTen
1. Chapter 1

**With presidents day just around the corner I decided to start another AU story! I really, Really shouldn't be doing this story since I've got so many I need to update. Nyrgh, but anyway here is my next story, it gets a little crazy at times but I try to keep the tone a bit more serious than…*coughs* than some of my other stories. This also must be the longest first chapter I've ever written. The first chapter is a little boring but the story will get better I promise! Not much else to say about this one except please review and I hope you enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I also do not own this amusing nejiten video I'm watching. Curses!**

Sometimes dreams start in the smallest of places. You may be doing something as simple as reading a book, listening to music or watching T.V and the seeds that hold ideas and dreams can be planted inside your head. Once the seeds are planted, they either die off or they take hold and keep growing and growing until the person realizes there dream, no matter the cost. And just such seeds were about to be planted inside the heads several people at Konoha Elementary School in Kurenai Yuhi's third grade classroom.

"Who knows," she had been saying while looking over the kids who were seated at there desks during her history lesson. "The next president of the U.S could be sitting here right now."

"Among the guys maybe, there's never been a woman in the white house," a calm voice quickly spoke up. Kurenai cast a quick disapproving glance over at the student. Neji Hyuga just shot an emotionless frown back at her. Kurenai took another look around the room. All the guys had turned to her eagerly awaiting her response, most of the girls had turned there heads away afraid to even make eye contact with the Hyuga. A few other girls had the same disapproving look that Kurenai had worn earlier. One girl however, looked positively furious like she was ready to attack the Hyuga at any second. Kurenai sighed to herself and decided to put a quick end to this before the girl decided to jump up on her desk…again.

"That doesn't mean that there will never be a female president," Kurenai said smiling at the class. "In fact I bet by the time you grow up there will have been several presidents who were women." Kurenai swore she saw the normally stoic Neji roll his eyes. She decided to ignore it and instead shot a quick look at the furious girl causing her to reluctantly sit down. The rest of the class seemed satisfied with the answer and started to put away their books. Kurenai appreciatively nodded to herself, glad that an argument had been avoided.

* * *

"Hey Neji!" a brown haired girl shouted angrily running after the white eyed boy as the class arrived in the cafeteria.

"What do you want Tenten?" he asked tiredly not bothering to even turn his head. To Neji Hyuga, everything that happened was destined to happen. Failures would always be failures while people like him were destined to succeed. Tenten however, was somehow an exception to the destiny rule. By all rights she shouldn't even be here. She was an orphan now in a high end school in the better end of Konoha. Her grades were as good as his, if not better (**1**), she could play sports as well as most guys and she was one of the loudest opponents against his whole destiny thing…and it really ticked him off.

"Looks like those two are at it again," Kiba Inuzuka sighed from the second graders table a little ways away as he pulled stuff out of a brown paper bag.

"Not again," Ino groaned. "They do this just about every day! What are they arguing about this time?"

"Neji said that there have never been any women presidents," Rock Lee said passing the table with his tray of food. "I don't think Tenten took it to well."

"I'm going to go get the teacher before it turns out like last time," Sakura said quickly getting up.

"Not if I get there first forehead!" Ino said jumping up.

"You see," Naruto said shaking his head. "This is the effect that organized society has on a young man like Neji. We should do something…"

"Naruto, no one understands you now shut up," Kiba said not taking his eyes off the arguing duo.

"Look Tenten, women do stuff like taking care of kids, cooking and cleaning. That's there job." Neji said simply. "Men do the important things like becoming presidents and generals and lawyers. That's the way we've always done things and that's how things are always going to be." He shrugged sitting down at the lunch table. Tenten quickly jumped up onto the table and glared down at Neji. "Do you have a problem with my answer?" Neji asked with a smirk completely unfazed by the girl's actions.

"Yes!" Tenten shouted in his face. "As a matter a fact I do!" Neji just kept smirking. "Fine," Tenten yelled. "If you really believe that, I'll show you Neji Hyuga! I'll prove you wrong! I'm going to become president someday!"

"Please, I already told you, that's a man's job," Neji sighed.

"Yeah, well I'm goin to make it a woman's job…Jerk!" Tenten yelled.

"You don't know the first thing about politics," Neji glared.

"Chord please," Tenten said tilting her head and putting up one finger as if to queue someone. Surprisingly, a simple piano melody began to play.

_Just suppose that all the votes were cast_

_And I came out ahead._

_Republicans and Democrats, elected me instead!_

"Where's that music coming from?" Kiba whispered. Shikamaru just shrugged boredly and continued to watch. (To this day no one has ever really figured out where that came from.)

_I'd speed things up! _

_I'd get things done!_

_I'm hyper as can be!_

_I'll only need a two year term_

_Cause I've got A-D-D!_

Tenten sang as she slid across the table on her knees before jumping up again. Neji just rolled his eyes.

_So! Let me be your president!_

_Somebody swear me in!_

_Then add my face to Mount Rushmore_

_Just leave room there for my grin! _

_And if we need more taxes_

_I'll just make the congress pay!_

_So life your voice! I'm the only choice!_

_God help the U.S.A!_

The old lunch lady who had wandered back into the room to see what all the commotion was about suddenly started to clap at the last four lines. Neji looked over at the woman as if she was crazy. Tenten paid them no mind and continued to sing.

_I'll never lie as president_

_Of course not talking will be tough_

_And as for leaks I give my word_

_To only leak the juicy stuff!_

_We'll never go to war _

_Because I couldn't stand the stress!_

_And Willie Nelson is my pick_

_To head the IRS!_

_So let me be your president_

_Osama Bin Laden won't mess with me!_

_Once Rock Lee is in charge_

_Of my foreign policy!_

"Youth!" Rock Lee shouted jumping and clapping.

_I'll make July a holiday!_

_And let Christmas run through May!_

_Tenten is the one! We'll have so much fun!_

_God help the U.S.A!_

By this time the entire lunch room had stood up and started to clap. Neji looked around and face palmed. "I live in a world of crazy people," he muttered. Tenten raised her hands above her head and smiling smugly. "This doesn't change anything," Neji said stoically to her with a cold glare. "You're never going to become president, ever!" Tenten just winked at him. Suddenly, a large hand tapped Tenten on the shoulder.

"Ah crap," the girl mumbled as the teacher picked her up off of the table and pointed in the direction of the principles office.

* * *

_12 Years Later_

"Well there you have it folks," a reporter said from the T.V. "Hayate Gekko has withdrawn from the race and the Republicans have officially selected Asuma Sarutobi as their candidate for this year's election! Back to you Baki," the reporter said with his cheesy reporting smile. In a large New York City meeting hall people went nuts, standing up and cheering, yelling at the top of there lungs and hugging each other.

"A toast!" a man shouted standing up and raising his champagne glass. "To this year's election! We've won half the battle! Now go out there tomorrow and make us proud Asuma!" he said as everyone in the room raised there glasses and cheered.

"Thank you Iruka!" Asuma laughed. "Thank you everyone! Now let's go out there and win this election!" he said raising his glass of champagne to his lips.

"Oh no you don't," a blonde girl with a clip board said yanking the glass of his hands.

"Aww, come on Ino," Asuma laughed good naturedly. Ino shook her head.

"No, you have the presidential candidate acceptance speech to give tomorrow in Washington D.C and that last thing you need is a bad hangover," Ino said pushing his towards the door. "Hinata make sure everything is in order for the speech tomorrow in D.C will you!" The blue haired girl quickly nodded, took out a cell phone and ran out the back door.

"Just one glass?"

"It's always just 'one glass' with you," Ino said sourly as she continued to push him out of the decorated meeting hall.

"At least let me bid farewell to my speech writers," Asume said good naturedly as everyone began to go back to there own personal business.

"You have one minute," Ino huffed with a small smile.

"So," Asuma asked excitedly turning to two people lying up against the wall. "You got that nomination speech ready for tomorrow?"

"Ready to go sir!" Tenten smiled giving him a thumbs up. Shikamaru who was standing beside her just nodded but the grin that spread a crossed his face said that he was just as excited as everyone else.

"Awesome!" Asuma smiled. "I expect no less from my two best speech writers."

"Don't worry! The speech we've got totally kicks….ass! You're going to slaughter the opposition!" Tenten grinned pumping a fist into the air.

"Can I see it?" Asuma asked.

"Well…Shikamaru kind of left it in his hotel room," Tenten laughed sheepishly rubbing a hand behind her head. Shikamaru thought about glaring but shook his head instead and decided to turn his attention back to the T.V screen.

"Well there you have it folks," the reporter said. "Asuma Sarutobi is the republican candidate and as announced earlier Kurenai Yuhi is the candidate for the democrat party!" Shikamaru's eye flew up, so against all odds his old teacher really had gotten the nomination. He must **really** have been to busy with getting this nomination to pay much attention to the democrats race. Baki on the other hand just nudged his co-host in the ribs. "So for the first time in U.S history we have two candidates from ethnic minorities running for president. And for the second time in just two presidencies, the son of a former president is being elected. Say, I hear you sisters one of her speech writers Kankuro." Baki smiled with the other man just laughed.

"Well…" the man said looking like he wasn't trying to brag to much. "I know who I'm voting for this year!" he finished with a smile. Baki nodded and turned back towards the camera. "Well that's it for tonight folks, be sure to tune in tomorrow morning at 6 for the morning news report with Matsuri. Until then, this is Baki for CNN in New York saying good night!"

"Time's up!" Ino said pushing Asuma towards the door as Shikamaru snapped back to the present conversation.

"Does he have to go Ino?" Tenten asked with a mock pout.

"Yes!" Ino half yelled. "It's really late and don't forget that I need that speech tomorrow by six at earliest so I can brief Asuma."

"Sure, this campaign stuff isn't getting to you Ino?" a lazy voice drawled.

"It's what I live for Shikamaru," the woman grinned back before pushing Asuma out of the room.

"I swear she gets grouchier every year," Tenten sighed. Shikamaru just glared at her. "What?" she asked.

"Ready to go my foot," Shikamaru grumbled "We haven't even started yet! You just had to put it off."

"Hey you agreed to it," Tenten said pointing a finger at his face.

"Well you know I'm too lazy to argue." Tenten just shrugged with a nonchalant grin on her face. "Now we've got…" Shikamaru glanced at his watch. "Six hours to write this speech."

"Hey that's plenty of time," Tenten smiled encouragingly. Shikamaru just sighed and grabbed his coat.

"Let's go get started then." He groaned.

"That's my line lazy ass," Tenten smirked grabbing her coat as the two walked out of the meeting hall and towards the elevator. "Where do you want to write this?"

"There's a little café about a block from here," Shikamaru replied. "We can type it out there. What's going to be our outline?"

"Thank you for the nomination, I respect my fellow politician Hayate now lets go kick the crap out of the competition, blah, blah, blah. Who are our opponents again?" Tenten asked before giving a yawn as the two walked out of the elevator and headed out of the entrance to the building.

"Diedara for the independents…" Shikamaru began.

"And to think, I was almost glad when Ralph Nader announced he wasn't running this year." Tenten yawned tiredly.

"The democratic candidate is…get this…Kurenai Yuhi," Shikamaru said with a slight smirk on his face as the pair walked into the café.

"Knew it," Tenten said with a very small shaking her head slightly. Kurenai had been her third grade teacher back in Konoha, a small town out in Washington, not to mention her favorite teacher.

"Well, no time for reminiscing," Shikamaru said walking up to the counter while Tenten sat down. He arrived at the table half a minute later, set a cup of coffee in front of her, took a sip of his and whipped out a computer.

"Shikamaru," Tenten whined taking a whiff of the coffee. Why had she put this speech off? "I wanted…"

"No!" Shikamaru said quickly glaring at her. "No way! You've had to much caffeine tonight. So," he said as he began to open a document. "We should probably do something other than our traditional opening. Maybe something along the lines of 'First of all, I would like to thank each and every one…'"

"What's wrong with 'my fellow Americans' or just a simple opening statement." Tenten asked with something that sounded like a mix between a whine and a yawn.

"Well he just won the primaries I think the people deserve a little bit more than just the normal 'To be a politician is a great responsibility'?" Shikamaru said, Tenten just shook her head.

"To give the whole thank you thing at the start just gives the image that we're kissing ass or being falsely polite. We should put the thank you in the middle of the speech once we've had enough build up." The two continued to argue for the next thirty minutes on how to arrange the speech. Finally, Tenten she threw up her hands.

"You know what? Just write what you want! I'll just sit back and watch! It's late I'm tired…you write the speech"

"Tenten," Shikamaru sighed rubbing his eyes.

"Seriously Shikamaru!" Tenten groaned. "I'm a speech writer for a future president sitting in a café in New York at one in the morning!"

"Well so am I. Now quit your whining and let's just write the damn speech. We've got less than six hours to write this! So get your head in the game!" Shikamaru said aggravatedlly.

"Shika, we've known each other since what, Kindergarten! Tell me the truth, what have I do with my life?" Tenten asked looking his squarely in the eyes. Shikamaru held up his hands defensively. There was a long silence between the two before Tenten continued again. "I always said I'd grow up to be…president." She chocked, "Now look at me! I don't really have a home, doc says I'm suffering from sleep deprivation or insomnia or something…I…I'm still single." She sighed and brushed a stand of hair away from her slightly teary eyes. Shikamaru sat back in his chair and folded his hands.

He really hated moments like these. For the majority of the day Tenten was always a funny, hyper, smart and perky girl but when she was under stress and really tired all her emotions and problems suddenly came flooding out, and he seriously had no idea what to do at times like this. She needed someone to lean on, but she had no family to speak of and since he was the only guy around when the breakdowns happened the responsibility would usually fall on his shoulder. Unfortunately, he was hardly the 'lean on me' type of guy. He placed an arm on the table and propped his head up lazily. It was at this moment he noticed a familiar figure enter the café. So while Tenten brushed away the moisture from her eyes a very familiar white eyed long haired male figure who had noticed them as well walked towards them.

"Fancy meeting you two here, Shikamaru…Tenten." The girl spun around in her seat to come face to face with Neji Hyuga.

**And that's chapter 1! Please tell me what you thought! I'd love to hear from you! (Not to mention I go half psychotic when I see the review alert in my inbox :b) Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter written by DCfan100. Once again, please review and I hope to have the next chapter up soon! **

**(1) According to the data books (which are not that accurate imo XD) Tenten is smarter than Neji, intelligence wise. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Three stories updated! I am on a roll! Kids please take note, this is what happens when you get to many stories going at once. It engulfs you! So, I want to thank all my reviewers! You guys are seriously awesome! Thank you so much for your input and comments! **

**Now this is one of those stories that I really enjoying writing and I like the way it's headed, but remember, if you have any comments, suggestions, questions or constructive criticism feel free to tell me! I'd love to hear from you! Also, I'm gonna try and keep playing up that 'Neji is a sexist jerk' thing for a large part of the story but still I'm gonna try and keep toning it down so as not to **_**over**_**play it. **

**Npw, here's a fun fact. Do you remember that little discussion at the beginning of chapter one where Kurenai talks to Neji? It was based on a conversation I had back in second grade. Guess who the 'Neji' of that conversation was? Me, :b It was a different time, I learned XD But this whole story kinda of sprouted from me reminiscing about that moment. Oh! And one other thing. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes, not as a politics lesson, so while I try to make this story as accurate as I can and while I do condone attempting to learn about the political system, please do not go around stating anything in this story as 'fact' because I'm not 100 percent sure of it myself. So if you want to quote it look it up to confirm it first.**

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, I have no connections to viz media or who ever distributes Naruto in Japan. I am in no way connected to Kishi and I am not making money from this property nor is the company in any way losing money from this. There I said it. Happy? No? Well I can go on if you'd like. The copy right law of the united states…**

"Neji Hyuga," Shikamaru sighed running a hand through his black hair for what felt like the tenth time that night. "Long time no see. Not since graduation two years ago."

"Perfect," Tenten said angrily picking up her cup of now cold coffee and drinking it in one gulp before muttering a few obscenities under her breath, "This is just perfect, as if this nightmare couldn't get any worse!"

"Is that anyway to treat an old friend Tenten," Neji answered in a confident tone while staring down at the brunette. Tenten just scoffed and shot him a mean glance before slamming her cup back down onto the table. The formerly sleepy clerk's eyes shot up and glared at the four.

"Please be careful with dishes," he said in a frustrated tone while eyeing them carefully.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Neji asked, perfectly calm and collected. Tenten just snorted. Shikamaru sighed lazily and yawned. He really wasn't in any mood to talk but what could he do? Casually he motioned to the seats on either side of him. Neji slowly maneuvered into the chair and sat down with a content sigh.

"So Hyuga," Tenten practically spat angrily, her brown eyes shooting dangers at the silently smirking Hyuga. "What're you doing out in New York?" Neji simply crossed his legs before casually resting his head on his hand.

"I'm only in New York because my job requires it. But I should ask the same of you," he smiled. "It's dangerous for a young girl like you to be out in New York city this late at night."

"Asshole," Tenten muttered again before glaring at him again. "I'm out here for the same damn reason you are. I'm doing my job." Neji nodded with a smile as if to say. 'How cute' Tenten just huffed angrily once again.

"Quite an interesting group of friends you've got," another voice said. Tenten and Shikamaru turned there heads to see a blonde woman with four ponytails and a wide smirk on her face. "It looks like they might hate you almost as much as I do." Tenten raised an eyebrow curiously and looked at the newcomer.

"Shikamaru, Tenten, I'd like you to meet my co-worker, Temari," Neji said nodding towards the woman. "She's quite an interesting character," he finished closing his eyes with a smirk. Everyone knew what he was thinking. 'Quite interesting for a girl'.

"You know, if I didn't have to work with you, you'd be dead by now," Temari said rolling her eyes with a semi uninterested expression as if she had to put up with this kind of stuff every day. Stiffly, Tenten turned her attention back to Neji.

"So Hyuga, what exactly do you do for a living?" she said crossing her arms and glaring. Suddenly, Shikamaru's normally lazy eyes shot open. He knew what was coming and it wasn't going to be pleasant. Neji on the other hand, didn't seem to notice.

"Same as you," he said. "I'm a speech writer. Except I work for the democratic presidential candidate. Our old teacher Kurenai Yuhi." Tenten's eyes flew up and her mouth dropped open. Silence overtook the table for awhile before Tenten finally got a hold of herself.

"How do you know where I work?" Tenten asked suspiciously.

"Perfect," Shikamaru muttered at Tenten turned to him.

"You still keep in touch with this…this…" she began angrily trying to find the right words to describe him.

"I keep in touch with everyone from school." Shikamaru cut in lazily placing his hands behind his head and leaning back. "Kiba, Naruto, Lee," he shrugged. "I never told you because I know how you get around Neji." Tenten turned her attention back towards Neji and opened her mouth.

"I know what you're going to say and I'll save your breath for you. No I did not 'copy' your job. I got my job in politics before you did and I did it on my own. I didn't need a friend to 'put in a good word for me,'" he finished glancing over at the Nara.

Shikamaru groaned to himself and braced for what was to come. For Tenten to hear that her old school rival had the exact same job that she did after all the times she'd sworn to out do him may not be what she needed to hear right now. Slowly, ever so slowly, Tenten began laugh. Shikamaru lazily stared at the ceiling, then again, what did he know?

"Good for you Hyuga, good for you. I can't wait to see the look on your face when we beat your sorry ass in a landslide." Tenten said with a genuine smile leaping up onto the table and pointing at him. Shikamaru quickly grabbed his cup to keep it from flying off the table. "Mark my words Neji Hyuga! I will prove I'm the better speech writer and I will make sure my party beats yours." Neji frowned at her before smiling smugly as a hand tapped Tenten on the shoulder. Tenten turned around to see the clerk who jerked his hand towards the door.

"Get out of my store right now!" he yelled.

"Ah crap." Shikamaru saved that word document on his computer before quickly taking one last sip of his coffee as the group headed for the door.

"Has she always been this…you know…eccentric?" Temari asked with a curious smile looking as the confident woman busted out of the door.

"Hn," Shikamaru and Neji answered in complete unison. Temari looked at the two before shaking her head.

"Well I guess we'll probably see each other in D.C tomorrow considering the circumstances." Neji said.

"I look forward to it," Tenten answered confidently. "Come on Shika we've got a speech to write." She said as she began to turn around.

"Tenten," Neji said quickly. The woman paused, turned around looked at him curiously with her large eyes.

"Just to let you know, I don't hate you. I always just thought you should be more reserved like most girls. I thought that you should do….something more appropriate than your line of work." Neji finished with a smile.

"Like?" Tenten asked raising an eyebrow daring him to go on.

"Baking?" Neji shrugged. SMACK! Tenten quickly decked Neji in the face sending him to the ground.

"I'll consider it," Tenten said with a satisfied smile. "Nice talking with you Neji," she nodded finally walked off.

"I kind like that girl," Temari laughed as Shikamaru helped Neji to his feet.

"Sorry about that," he sighed. "But after all this time you should know better than to provoke her like that." Neji just shrugged and whipped some dirt off of his clothes before he rubbed his sore jaw. "Anyway, I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Neji nodded back as Shikamaru quickly left to follow Tenten.

"She got you good," Temari teased with a cheeky grin.

"Let's go," Neji muttered.

"Whatever," Temari smiled as the two left in the opposite direction.

* * *

"Come on Tenten! We gotta pick up the pace!" Shikamaru shouted rushing up a long flight of stairs and towards security. The two had spent the entire night working on the speech. By the time they had finally finished, it was five thirty which left them with about half an hour to get to the airport. Now they were rushing towards their gate hoping they weren't to late.

"That's pretty ironic coming from someone as lazy as you." Tenten yelled sleepily back at him, clumsily rushing up the steps as fast as her tired legs would allow.

"I know, but we have to keep moving!" Shikamaru huffed with a tired look in his eye as he quickly showed his passport and ID to the officer at the security checkpoint.

"The only sleep I got was in that twenty minute taxi ride!" Tenten whined showing her ID to the other official.

"Ma'am this is a coupon for 25 percent off of any cereal at Target."

"My bad," Tenten mumbled sleepily fishing around in her bag and pulling out the correct documents.

"Well if we'd actually done this speech on time we wouldn't be in this mess," Shikamaru said as the two pushed there bags into the scanner before steeping through the metal detectors.

"It's always comes down to this doesn't it," Tenten huffed.

"Let's just keep going! If I don't get that speech to Ino on time she's going to have my head on a platter." Shikamaru yawned as the two grabbed there bags and rushed towards their 'special' gate.

"Just your head?" Tenten asked, managing a smirk despite being so tired.

"You know she plays favorites," Shikamaru answered fishing the speech out of his bag. "Plus we'll have to catch a commercial flight." Tenten nodded. She hated commercial flights. The seats weren't big enough to sleep in, the food was either very good or downright horrible depending on the airline (she usually got the horrible ones) and commercial airplanes smelled…weird.

"Right let's hurry," she said before tripping over a set of seats. "…Owe."

"You really are tired aren't you?" Shikamaru asked as he helped Tenten to her feet. She nodded as they arrived at the gate.

"I've had the sleeping problem for about a year now but it's getting worse." She groaned.

"Probably because you drink so much coffee," Shikamaru said.

"It's because of stress from work," Tenten shot back through gritted teeth, angry that Shikamaru would even suggest that her beloved caffeine was the root of her problem.

"Tenten! Shikamaru!" Ino said from the gate. "Where have you two been? I've had to hold the flight for ten minutes just because of you two!" she glared.

"Sorry mom," Shikamaru said rolling his eyes.

"My fault," Tenten said "We stayed up late last night making some last minute revisions to the speech. Had to research the republican parties' previous stances on chapter 11 policies and the correct years that Wilson was president…" Ino gave her a look "…And we went to Taco Bell." Ino nodded and smiled before Shikamaru handed her the speech.

"I guess I can let it slide just this once," Ino shrugged pushing up her glasses, taking the speech and nodding to the gatekeeper. The three quickly walked inside and placed there bags in the over head compartments.

"We're ready to go Earl!" Ino shouted to one of the workers who nodded and raced towards the front of the plane. As soon as she found her seat Tenten promtly collapsed into it, closed her eyes and (as she put it) conked out.

"Morning Shikamaru!" Asuma called.

"Good morning sir," Shikamaru said with a tired mock salute. "Did you sleep well?"

"Five and a half hours," Asuma said stretching his arms. "A real busman's holiday," he chuckled while cracking his neck. "What about you?" Shikamaru just yawned and shook his head.

"Me and Tenten were up all night revising the speech." He said. Asuma nodded.

"Work's gettin to you?" Asuma asked. "Don't worry about it. You do your job fine." He said patting the younger man on the shoulder. Shikamaru nodded and smiled.

"You know we ran into one of our old classmates yesterday, Neji Hyuga, remember I told you about him? He's a speech writer for the democrats." Asuma whistled.

"Another kid from your school who went into politics? What's that bring the total up to? Like fifteen? That's one hell of a school."

"I thank Misses Yuhi, she's the one who always encouraged us to do our best, even after we left her class. Don't take her to lightly," Shikamaru warned.

"Mister Sarutobi it's time for your speech briefing!" Ino called from Asuma's seat.

"With Ino running this campaign I don't think I'll have time to take _anything _anywhere," Asuma said rolling his eyes and moving towards his seat. Shikamaru just grinned before giving out another loud yawn and stretching his arms.

"Long night Shikamaru-kun?" a quiet voice asked from beside Shikamaru. The Nara turned his head to see Hinata. Neji's quieter cousin who possessed the same lavender orbs and silky hair.

"You have no idea," Shikamaru yawned. "But at least we got the speech done. How about you? Is everything ready in D.C?" Hinata nodded.

"I-It wasn't hard, hotel rooms have been booked, the catering service is ready, I…I've got security passes for everyone…" Hinata said counting down the events on her fingers. "And have you eaten yet?"

"No not yet," Shikamaru said shaking his head. "But I'll get something when we get to D.C." Hinata nodded and went back to going over her checklist.

"Oh!" Hinata piped up. "Ino-chan w-wanted me to tell you that the party and Asuma were pretty unanimous in there decision for the vice. Governor of Oklahoma, Kakashi Hatake. Ino-chan says' to adjust you're future speeches to include his name."

"Right, thanks," Shikamaru nodded. "Any news on who the vice presidential candidate for the Democratic party might be?"

"Nothing new yet, but I'm sure when something comes up Saskue-san will contact us. H-however, the independent party has elected Itachi as their candidate for vice president. I j-just thought you'd like to know." Shikamaru nodded, the independent party had never really been a major player in the presidential race but Itachi was Saskue's older brother and had always been something of a…ahem well had always been quite radical.

"_Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking, we are about to depart from New York City please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened and that your tray tables are in the upright position before we take off," _Came a voice from the planes intercom. Shikamaru sighed to himself and fastened his seatbelt.

"S-should someone wake Tenten-chan up?" Hinata asked softly looking at the bun haired girl worriedly. Shikamarulooked over in Tenten's direction. The seats of the airplane were certainly large, more like bean bag chairs than anything else. Currently Tenten was sprawled a crossed her seat with her legs hanging over the side. Shikamaru just shrugged. Quite frankly, he was too tired to care at the moment. Quietly he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**Well that's the story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and I'll see you next time! Remember, if you have any comments, suggestions, questions or constructive criticism feel free to tell me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! Once again a big thank you to everyone who reviewed! And I must also apologize for the wait, again. Final exams and all that jazz. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, never owned by me and never will be. This is a fan work and I am making no money off of it. **

Tenten rolled over once again, in her sleep, unconsciously trying to find the most comfortable position when all of a sudden she was practically thrown out of her chair and into the fortunately soft seat in front of her.

"…Ow," was all she managed to say.

"_Attention passengers we have no arrived in Washington D.C,"_

"You don't say," Tenten groaned picking herself up and rubbing her head.

"_Thank you for flying with us and to Mister Asuma Sarutobi, we wish you the best of luck in the acceptance speech today! We'll see you all again on your trip back home." _The overly cheery voice finished.

"Hurray," Tenten muttered sarcastically as Shikamaru looked down at her with his usual expression still spread across his face. Rolling her eyes, Tenten got to her feet.

"So what'd I miss?" she asked stretching her arms.

"Not much," Shikamaru said as the group of people inside the jet picked up there luggage and headed for the exit. "Kakashi Hatake was elected as Asuma's running mate." He added picking up his brown bland suitcase as he headed for the door.

"Hatake? That guy from Oklahoma?" Tenten asked curiously slinging her light blue back pack over her shoulder. "He always seemed more suited as something like…NRA spokesperson." It was Shikamaru's turn to roll his eyes.

"Hey someday, when either cockroaches or zombies take over the world, you'll be wishing you'd bought a gun." Tenten said as the two walked out of the plane behind Asuma and his aides. As usual, there were a large amount of cops and reporters all over the place yelling for people to get back or yapping questions as fast as they could.

"There will be a press conference after the speech today, you can ask any questions you have there!" Ino yelled to the crowd of reporters.

"Just once I'd like to flip these guys off," Tenten sighed with a smile.

"I already stuck my neck out to get you this job and I did it again after the 'Cleveland incident'" Shikamaru began giving his friend a small glare.

"I was provoked," Tenten shrugged back.

"Please don't make me do it again," Shikamaru finished with an exasperated sigh of his own.

"Okay, okay, I'm grateful to you of course," Tenten said causally waving a hand aside. "But you don't need to keep pointing that out. I'll behave, I just have…issues. I do some crazy stuff but no body gets hurt right? You know that."

"Just like what happened with Neji last night, right?" Shikamaru drawled sarcastically, becoming less interested with the conversation by the second as he started scanning the crowd of reporters going over the various television stations and newspapers they represented in his mind.

"I was provoked!" Tenten half yelled throwing her hands up.

"Whatever," Shikamaru said as he started to walk on ahead as the group entered the airport. Everyone slowly started to walking towards security while pulling out the various documents and passes. "All I'm saying is that you've gotten quite sporadic."

"You heard what he was saying! You really just expect me to sit back and say nothing?" Tenten asked throwing her hands up in the air.

"Tenten, you hardly said anything, you punched him in the face," Shikamaru admonished.

"Yeah," Tenten said with a smile. "That kind of rocked." Shikamaru gave her a bored 'are you serious?' look as he handed the guard his papers. "I mean uh…I'll apologize next time I see him." She finished apologetically making a mental note to try and avoid Neji Hyuga for the day. Shikamaru probably wouldn't even bother to try and remember this conversation that long anyway. The two passed through security and walked to the group of their colleagues as they waited for the others to pass through security. Members of the media still stood outside snapping pictures and calling for interviews as police officers and airport security stood guard.

"Oi!" A familiar voice rang out in the crowd. The group turned around to see a figure press up against the line of cops. The man showed his pass and the cops turned curiously to the group.

"Do you know this man Ma'am?" one of them asked Ino.

"Yeah!, It's fine, you can let him through," Ino nodded.

"Hey Sasuke, s'up?" Tenten greeted with a tired smile before letting out a yawn.

"Ibiki Morino is the vice for Kurenai," Saskue said cutting straight to the point with his traditional scowl.

"Ibiki?" Shikamaru asked raising an eyebrow. "That's a strange choice, Kurenai's more of a liberal democrat, you'd think she'd chose someone more on the conservative side to draw in more votes."

"Who is Ibiki anyway?" Tenten asked curiously.

"He worked at the pentagon, was a general in the army for awhile," Shikamaru explained. "Not a lot of people have heard of him." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"And he's a liberal?" Tenten inquired curiously. Shikamaru just shrugged. Tenten looked at his strangely before shaking her head. "Say, when do we eat?" she asked suddenly. "I'm starving."

"Didn't you eat taco bell this morning?" Ino called back looking at the two suspiciously. Tenten and Shikamaru avoided eye contact as Ino shook her head and wagged her finger accusingly at the two.

"I swear, she's as bad as my mother," Shikamaru mumbled.

"You say that about every girl you meet," Tenten whispered between her teeth. As Ino sighed again and pulled a notebook out of her handbag and started scribbling down a few things.

"Hinata," she asked. The other girl instantly looked up and walked quickly over towards Ino's side. "What are the lunch arrangements for today?"

"I-I called for pizza delivery which will arrive at 11:30 right after Asuma gives his speech."

"Any snacks?"

"I'm afraid not, I didn't have time to order anything for the bus or for the Asuma's speech today. Although, I could call in for some stuff to be delivered. It should be here by 10:30 at the latest." Hinata explained.

"Think you two can wait that long?" Ino asked. Shikamaru just yawned and nodded reluctantly.

"No," Tenten said instantly. Ino sighed.

"Fine, he's a map of the city, your security passes, and two cards for our location." Ino said. "You've got about half an hour to find something to eat then catch a cab to our location, got it?" she asked as everyone started climbing onto the large bus that had arrived to pick them up.

"Right! Thanks Ino!" Tenten said rushing off.

"And Tenten," Ino called. Tenten stopped and turned around. "Do NOT be late this time. Got it?" she asked dead serious. Tenten just nodded and smiled before turning around and running off again. With all the security around she was going to have to run a few blocks to catch a cab. Shikamaru and Saskue just shook there heads as they stepped onto the bus.

"D-do you think that someone should go with Tenten-chan…just to make sure she stays on track?" Hinata asked looking back towards the girl as she climbed onto the bus. "I don't m-mean to be rude but she does get sidetracked kind of easily."

"I'm not gonna after her," Shikamaru yawned. "She's a grown woman. She can take care of herself."

"I've got work to do, gotta brief Ino," Saskue shrugged not looking up from his book full of notes. Hinata just sighed and found her seat on the bus and before long her mind was back on her work.

Meanwhile, Tenten signaled a Taxi and quickly slipped inside.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"The closest McDonalds around, and step on it," Tenten smiled. The driver nodded and the car sped off.

"In town for the presidential debate?" he asked. Tenten just nodded with a simple 'mhm' as she continued to stare out the window, her mind currently occupied with thoughts of food. Seeing that his passenger wasn't in a talking mood, the driver shrugged his shoulders and continued driving. Tenten's stomach was audibly grumbling after the five minute taxi ride. Quickly, she pulled out a couple bills and handed them to the driver before uttering a quick 'thank you' and bolting out the door and into the restaurant before facing the fast food eaters worst enemy. The line.

It's a known fact that during one of America's early economic booms, too many people were sick of waiting for waiting for there food. So, fast food was invented so people could order and get there food in under a couple minutes. Apparently this still wasn't enough as people suddenly wanted to eat on the go and hence the drive thru was invented. Nowadays, that still isn't fast enough for some people who simple resort to simply reaching between the seat cushions and hoping that whatever they pull out won't give them food poisoning….okay so we made that last part. The point is, that for energetic, slightly sporadic young people in a hurry, there is nothing worse that a line.

Tenten groaned to herself as she stepped into the back of what looked like the shortest one and anxiously looked up at the clock. Thankfully, the line kept moving, slowly but surely as person after person stepped up to the counter to order there food. Tenten glanced up at the clock again, twenty minutes. If she didn't get back in time Ino would never let her hear the end of it. Ino was nice, sure but even she had her limits. Anxiously she shuffled her feet a bit as she moved up a little in line. Finally, she stepped to the front of the line as the **WAY** to cheery McDonalds cashier cranked his fake smile up to eleven.

"Hello ma'am, what would you like today?" he asked.

"Can I get a chicken burger meal to go?" she responded urgently taking another quick glance at the clock. The employee frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry ma'am but out lunch menu doesn't come out for another hour, if you could come back around…" Tenten quickly cut him off and lowered her face dangerously close to the cashier.

"I got a total of two hours of sleep last night, I have perhaps one of the biggest events of my career today and If I don't get to work in the next twenty minutes my boss is going to kill me. Would it kill you to Give Me Some Chicken!" Tenten finished loudly. The employee looked at her strangely and after muttering something that Tenten was pretty sure she didn't want to hear tuned around and yelled for the manager. The two talked in low tones for about fifteen seconds before the manager turned to her an opened her mouth…

"No," Tenten said before the managed had a chance to speak. The managed sighed and shrugged and yelled out an order to one of the cooks. Four minutes later, the manager handed Tenten a bag with her meal in it and with a smile even faker apologized for any delay. Tenten sighed and paid the cashier. Great, now she felt like a complete jerk. "Thanks," she said turning to the cashier before she quickly shot out an apology. "I really appreciate your effort here and I'm sorry for being so pushy I'm just under a lot of stress here, you know with my job and all, so thanks for helping me cause without people like you I would never be able to get a chicken meal at this time of day and holy crap I gotta go!" she finished in one breath before bolting out the door. Grabbing the burger out of the bag and taking off the wrapper with one hand and hailing a taxi with the other Tenten counted how many minutes she had left in her head. As soon as a taxi pulled up Tenten jumped in and handed the driver the card.

"As fast as possible," she said. The driver nodded and shifted the taxi into gear. The car speed up and raced down the streets of the countries capitol thankfully not attracting attention from any of the many police men stationed in the area. Tenten, sighed to herself. She'd make it to the speech on time after all.

"Oh boy, sorry miss, looks like we might we awhile." The driver said motioning to the heavy traffic jam in front of them.

"Damnit!" why did fate hate her so much? Tenten laid back in her seat and groaned before taking another look at the clock before looking out the window. Cars were lined up in front and in back of them for as far as she could see. Stuck right in the middle of a traffic jam, just her luck.

"Today's the big day for the politicians you know," the taxi driver said with a sigh before shaking his head. "Looks like I'm gonna miss it again this year. Ah well, no big deal right. I mean, who votes anyway?"

"How far is it from here to the speech grounds?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Well usually it's about five more minutes worth of driving." The driver explained. "Could be anywhere from ten minutes to a couple hours now." Tenten was silent for a moment before.

"How long would it take someone to…run there?" she asked eyeing the driver curiously awaiting an answer.

"Ma'am you're not seriously thinking off…" he paused as Tenten shot him a pair of tired 'I stayed up all night to write a speech and punch my old classmate in the face, I am not gonna get my ass fired just for being late after all that,' eyes. The drive sighed again.

"I suppose you could make it in twenty if you ran. It's just down this road." He said.

"Right! Thanks!" Tenten said handing him a set of bills and quickly opening the door and rushing out and down the road at full speed. The driver watched her go before sighing to himself and flipping on the radio. Meanwhile, Tenten took a deep breath of air as she reached a red light at the first intersection. Twenty minutes eh? If that was all it took she could probably get there and get off with just a harsh warning. Tenten took another deep breath as the light turned green before she took off again. As she continued, she noticed the traffic getting more and more congested. Police were everywhere moving cars down other routes. Eventually she reached a squad of cops who stopped her.

"Sorry ma'am, this entry is restricted, please use the main entrance if you want…" the man began.

"It's…it's, okay…I, I'm work here," Tenten said out of breath weakly placing her hands on her legs and handing the cop a political party pass that she carried in her pocket. The cop looked it over, then at Tenten before handing it back and waving her through.

"Please have your other passes ready for the next checkpoints," the cop said with a nod. Tenten gave him a thumbs up and broke into a weak jog towards the stadium. Finally.

"Pass ma'am?" the guard asked stopping her as she reached the entrance. Tenten nodded and reached for her bag…which she had left in the Taxi.

"Well fuc…" she swore before being cut off by the guard.

"Ma'am do you have a pass?" he asked cautiously. Tenten groaned before showing him her normal press and political party pass.

"This is only good for a position in the media box ma'am." He said in a monotone.

"I'm aware of that," Tenten said through gritted teeth. "But I have official clearance, I just lost my pass." The Guard motioned for her to step up to the security booth. Quickly checking her fingers prints and taking a retinal scan he nodded.

"Yes you check out, but without those passes I can't let you in, security reasons." The guard began again.

"I know already," Tenten groaned. It was official. This day sucked. She gone through another one of her wangst fests which never made her feel all that good, ran into her old school enemy, gotten a grand total of two and a half hours of sleep, gotten stuck in traffic and now she couldn't even get to work. "I don't know how this day could possibly get any worse!" Tenten shouted angrily.

"Tenten?" Came the voice of an all too familiar figure.

"YOU HAVE A REALLY SICK SENSE OF HUMOR! YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT?" Tenten yelled towards the sky before turning around to confront…Kiba.

"Kiba?...Kiba Inuzuka? From home room right?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Tenten….uh, Tenten?" Kiba asked giving up on trying to remember her last name before laughing and extending his hand. "Is that really you?" he stopped and sniffed her. "Yep! It's you!" he said laughing again. "It's been ages! What're you doing here?" Tenten blinked. Yep, same old Kiba.

"I work here," she answered with a smirk. "Well, with the republican party that is." She smiled.

"No kidding!" Kiba grinned high fiving her. "I'm working with the democratic party!"

"Since when?" Tenten asked with a surprised smile.

"Eh, Neji pulled a few strings after college a got me a job," Kiba smirked. "You remember Neji right?"

"Don't remind me," Tenten said rolling her eyes. Kiba snickered.

"So, what are you doing out?" Kiba asked. "I was just sent to pick up some supplies, how bout you?"

"Lost my passes," Tenten sighed. "Left them in a taxi," she shrugged casually. Kiba whistled.

"Come on," he said jerking his head towards the entrance. "Let me see if I can help." Kiba quickly dug into his pocket and showed the guard his passes and went through the normal security protocols. The guard was about to wave him through before Kiba stopped him. "You heard our conversation," he chuckled weakly. "Can she…?" he paused. The guard sighed.

"Well without any passes I can't officially let her in, but she did pass the retinal scan and finger print test so I suppose she could go in with you." The guard began.

"Yes!"

"But she has to stay with you!" the guard said.

"What? But… I gotta get to the republican cabinet!" Tenten said urgently.

"If I start making exceptions, this whole place would fall apart," the guard answered.

"Grr…I'll give ya fall apart," Tenten mumbled under her breath as Kiba nudged her through the door.

"Don't worry, we'll think up something," he laughed. "Now come on, let me re introduce you to they boys!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter! Not much else to say but a thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I hope you like this one as well, please review!**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill…yadda yadda yadda you know what I'm talking about.**

"Hey, hey, hey!" The guard yelled. Tenten paused and turned around trying to look as casual as possible.

"Is there a problem sir?" she asked with an angelically innocent look crossing her face.

"The Democrats office is that way," The guard said motioning in the exact opposite direction that Tenten was going in. Tenten just sighed and with a 'whatever' followed a grinning Kiba towards the democratic office.

"You almost had him there," Kiba snickered. Tenten just rolled her eyes.

"So, Kiba," Tenten began casually as they walked down the long finely crafted marble hallways of the building. "I haven't really seen you since graduation, you kept in touch with Neji?"

"Oh you know," Kiba shrugged, "My father knew his father, I asked him for help with a job and volla! You do remember what I majored in back in College right?"

"Lining dorms rooms with plastic wrap and filling them with water?" Tenten asked sarcastically.

"Oration, but yeah I did that to, and I was the best at both," Kiba grinned. "You are looking at the current Democratic representative to the press." Tenten laughed as the two continued walking down the hallways.

"Seriously, Kiba Inuzuka," she said. "Representative for the Democratic Party, guess you've come a long way from lining the toilet seats with ceramic wrap." She finished before they rounded a corner. Almost, instantly they crashed into a figure who had apparently been moving at extremely fast speeds. Papers flew everywhere as the figure quickly picked himself up and began snatching papers out of the air at near super sonic speeds.

"Sorry, very sorry. Should've seen where I was going, my fault totally my fault, I was going to fast, a little to fast, okay maybe way to fast" the black haired figure sputtered as he picked up the last of his papers. "Oh they're going to kill me, Tobi's so late, so very, very late, gotta go, gotta go!" he panicked before vanishing. Kiba and Tenten just watched him go before momentary silence filled the hall…Kiba and Tenten traded glances…

"…Why is that man wearing a mask?" Kiba asked at last.

"The same reason that the governor of Oklahoma wears one over his mouth," Tenten shrugged.

"Must be from the independent party," Kiba said shaking his head as the two arrived at the Democrats room. Kiba turned the handle and the two walked inside. Just as Tenten put a foot inside, a figure leaped out at her and with the force of a miniature commercial airliner sent her flying outside the room and onto her back before he started…licking her face.

"You remember Akamaru right?" Kiba asked casually as if this happened every day.

"Yeah," Tenten grunted, "He's gotten, heavier since we last met. Now get him off of me!" Kiba just laughed and Akamaru climbed off of her and wined.

"Hey buddy," Kiba said scratching him on the head. "Miss me?" Akamaru barked and Kiba smiled again.

"So, you gonna introduce me to the boys now?" Tenten asked in a slightly resentful tone while wiping the dog prints off of her shirt. Kiba was about to answer when Akamaru sniffed the box that Kiba had brought in and wined.

"Hey! Don't get snippy with me," Kiba said quickly. Tenten looked at him strangely thinking that he'd spoken to her. "Oh great," Kiba mumbled. "Now Tenten thinks I'm a jerk." Akamaru barked again. "Well how's she supposed to know you started talking to me?" Tenten rolled her eyes.

"And where have you been?" a chilling voice spoke up from behind the two. Tenten jumped in surprise and Kiba turned around.

"Oh hey Shino, yeah sorry, I kinda lost track of time and then I ran into Tenten here and she'd lost her passes so I invited her here. Tenten you remember Shino right?" he asked.

"Who?" Tenten asked looking around. Shino just sighed as if he'd been expecting it.

"Shino Aburame, from High School, third and sixth period in our final year." He began to drawl. "Study Hall and Human Anatomy. Remember now?"

"…We're you the one who I dangled a pig brain in front of?" Tenten asked after a long pause.

"That was in seventh grade!...but yes that was me," Shino sighed regretfully before turning around to pick up Kiba's box. "Now," he continued. "May I ask just how you lost your passes?"

"I left them in my taxi," Tenten shrugged.

"I see," Shino muttered in what was probably his best nonchalant voice. "Kiba it wasn't a good idea to bring a member of the opposing party in her."

"Hey, come on man," Kiba grinned hopefully, "She's an old friend right?"

"I'm campaign manager and I don't like the idea," Shino said carefully handing the box to a passing worker.

"Aw, come on just be sure to keep her away from the classified stuff." Kiba promoted.

"Yeah, I won't look, I promise," Tenten chimed in with a smile on her face.

"And if she does you can always blame me," Kiba said and Akamaru barked in agreement. Shino just stared at the two from behind his dark glasses. His gaze shifted from Tenten to Kiba and then back to Tenten.

"Fine," he huffed. "If I remember correctly she doesn't have that good of a memory anyway." Kiba nodded and grinned as he and Shino started heading off towards another set off doors.

"Exactly…wait, what do you mean by that?" Tenten asked as she followed the two in.

"We're back!" Kiba called. The large group of people inside the room just seemed to ignore him as they all rushed from place to place doing different tasks. In the middle of the room there was a large table lined with food and at the end of it stood a beautiful woman with long black hair and deep red eyes. As they approached the table Tenten instantly recognized her. She instantly started to run forward but Kiba stepped in her path and put a finger to his lips before motioning to two other figures beside the woman. Unfortunately, Tenten seemed to instantly recognize them as well.

"Keep in mind that you don't want to specifically endorse that specific humane group as Ibiki…" Neji spoke, his tone clam as ever.

"Ibiki doesn't like them to much and he's not to secret about that and endorsing them would give our opponents grounds to say we flip flop blah, blah, blah" The blonde beside him, Temari finished. "Can't she why though," she mumbled looking up at the extremely stern and cold faced man who towered above them all.

"I have my reasons," the man spoke up in a voice that made them all feel like ice water had been poured down there backs.

"I thought he was supposed to be a liberal democrat," Tenten whispered to Kiba. Kiba just stared at her like she'd gone nuts.

"Who ever told you that?" he whispered back. "I heard the only reason he's with the democratic party is that he favors more social services for veterans."

"Thanks you two," the woman spoke up finally in a nervous tone as she rubbed her temples.

"Twenty minutes miss Yuhi," Shino spoke up finally.

"Shino!" Kurenai spoke up her head swerving in his direction. "I didn't see you there."

"No one ever does," he sighed. "I'm going to go have a quick de brief with the other campaign managers of the other parties."

"Ino?" Tenten asked.

"And the Independent parties manager. A man by the name of Nagato." Shino sighed again. "This is going to be a nightmare."

"Good luck," Temari called not looking back as he vanished out the door. "Hey kid," she said off handedly to Tenten. Kurenai looked in the direction that Temari was speaking and her red eyes widened when she saw just who she had been speaking to.

"Tenten?" she asked, getting out of her chair.

"Ms. Yuhi!" Tenten yelled jumping forward and nearly knocking her old teacher over.

"Whoa, slow down there kid, I'm not as young as I used to be," Kurenai laughed merrily.

"Sorry," Tenten said laughing along. "But it's just so great to see you again!" she gushed.

"You to, Tenten, I see you already met Kiba, and I assume you remember Neji from…"

"Yes," Tenten said immediately sending a glare in the Hyugas direction. Neji just stared back at her, his face portraying absolutely no emotion what so ever.

"That's his work face," Kiba whispered before turning back to Kurenai and smiling. "Long story short, Tenten lost her passes and I told her that she could stay with us so she won't get herself fired…if that's okay with you of course," he added quickly. Kurenai opened her mouth but another voice interrupted.

"Ready Ms. Yuhi? We've to go be behind the curtains in five so you'll be able to come right out when they call," a large, wide figure said. Tenten looked up to see yet another one of her old classmates, Choji Akimichi. The man looked in her direction opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but decided against it and simply repeated his message before taking one last glance at Tenten and walking off.

"Choji?" Tenten asked in her most puzzled voice. Kiba just nodded. "What's he do around here?"

"Catering," Kiba shrugged.

"Ah yes," Tenten nodded officially.

"All right everyone!" another voice spoke up. A pink haired girl with her face buried in a clip board walked over. "Ms. Yuhi you and Ibiki are to follow the guards behind the curtains and the rest of you can head up to the seats overlooking the grounds." Everyone nodded and quickly rushed to get ready.

"This way people," a guard motioned to the staff members. Tenten decided to simply follow the crowd and hope that they would allow her in.

"Sleep well last night?" Neji's voice spoke up behind her. He'd obviously spotted the dark rings around her eyes. Tenten turned. He was wearing a confident and satisfied smirk a crossed his face.

"Oh shut up," Tenten muttered before turning back around. "I don't know how a moron like you got a job in the Democratic party."

"How'd a radical feminist like you get a job with the Republican party?" Neji answered. Tenten sent him a death glare but decided to keep her mouth shut. The last thing she needed was to get into trouble for assaulting the Democrats speech writer in front of all her old classmates and about four dozens security officers.

As the group found there seats in the special boxes Tenten found that she had a perfect view of everything that was going on. There was Tsunade, the president's secretary of state making a speech while Hiruzen sat behind her casually with the past two presidents, Obama and Bush who were probably just there to draw a bigger crowd. The other officials such as Hiruzens Vice President Jiraya and his Secretary of Defense, Orochimaru, sat silently with polite smiles on there faces. From her seat, Tenten could also make out some figures who were standing behind the big red curtain getting ready to walk out. Kurenari closed her eyes and breathed nervously as an assistant straightened her hair. Ibiki was looking as cold as usual. Asuma and Kakashi were exchanging jokes and Asuma had a pack of cigarettes out. Ino was probably having a fit fight now Tenten thought with a smile. Meanwhile on the independents side the man they'd ran into in the hall, Tobi was being yelled at loudly by a silver haired man while he desperately rushed around trying to collect note cards that had flown everywhere. Tenten recognized Itachi who was looking as passive as ever while the blonde haired independent candidate put a hand up so he couldn't see Tobi begging him to help. Tenten just shook her head as she turned her attention back the podium.

"Thank you for that Tsunade," Hiruzen was saying with a kind smile over his old eyes. "I'd now like to introduce our two candidates for this year."

"DAMN IT! IT'S THREE CANDIDATES! THREE! HN!" A voice from the independents side boomed in anger.

"Of course, my apologies," Hiruzen said, the smile growing a bit wider. "Our three candidates. Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi and…" he paused before looking over at Tsunade.

"Deidara," she mouthed.

"And Deidara," Hiruzen smiled stepping back as the three candidates and there vice presidents stepped out. Well as Asuma and Kurenai stepped out. Deidara just kind of stumbled out as Tobi quickly fell out of the curtain behind him as the note cards went flying again. Tobi quickly snatched them up and handed them to Deidara who in turn gave Tobi the darkest glare Tenten had ever seen before the silver haired man started strangling Tobi by the neck and dragging him back in. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to be ignoring the Independents as Asuma and Kurenai shook hands and smiled.

"Let's hope she keeps her mouth shut this time," Temari mumbled.

"This isn't a full debate, just a public showing, we should be fine for the most part," Neji sighed. Tenten looked over at them curiously.

"And just what do you mean by that?" she glared. Temari sighed.

"Tenten, I know you look up to her and all but quite frankly, Kurenai can be quite…vocal," Temari finished delicately.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tenten asked.

"No," Neji piped up his voice full of superiority. Tenten turned her glare back on him. "Politics is a game of knowing how to smile while pointing out all of your opponents bad points and your good points. Get to rough and the first thing that will pop into the voters head is, gee I don't want them in the office." Tenten frowned and looked over at Temari who just shrugged and nodded.

"You should be great at it then," Tenten muttered to Neji.

"I am, I was class President all through high school," Neji replied coolly. Tenten felt her face going red as she looked away.

"Although today we just the nomination acceptances speeches so we should be fine," Temari sighed looking over at the two.

"I would now like to introduce Kurenai Yuhi," Hiruzen smiled motioning for Kurenai to step up. The woman nodded over in his direction with a smile on her face before stepping up the podium and shaking hands with the president.

The acceptance speech was the basic thank you's and courtesies with the basic democrat ideals. Bigger government, higher taxes and more social services, the government must do for the people what people cannot do for themselves. At the end the crowd gave Kurenai a standing ovation and to Tenten's surprise Temari and Neji gave each other high fives.

When it was Asuma's turn to speak Tenten smiled as he launched into the first words of the speech that she and Shikamaru had worked all night on. It also held the basic republican ideals. Smaller government, lower taxes and don't try and manage everything in the country, keep the money in the pockets of the people and let them make an honest living. Once again the audience gave him a standing ovation and Kiba gave her a friendly punch to the shoulder and Temari gave her a thumbs up. Neji just smiled at her but it was clearly a smile that said, 'not bad…for a girl'.

Deidara came next and frankly Tenten couldn't grasp a word of it. He was speaking in complicated long convoluted sentences that made no sense. Although Tenten swore she heard the word 'bombs' mentioned more than once. The most he received was a few polite claps and a couple of coughs…and Tobi shouted cheerleader rhymes at the top of his lungs.

"Tenten!" Ino's shrill voice shouted as the staff members from all parties had gathered inside one of the large government buildings after the speeches had been given. Members from the media carefully milled around the room speaking with various people as Choji continued wheeling food out. Tenten turned around, her mouth full of potatoes. Quickly, she swallowed.

"Uh…Heeeeeeyyyy Ino," she said innocently.

"Oh don't give me that," Ino said placing her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? Just where were you?" Tenten quickly averted her eyes and sheepishly rubbed a hand on the back of her head. "Never mind, Shino told me all about it." Ino sighed. "I had Hinata call the Taxi company and they'll be returning your passes later today."

"W-Well I did make it to the speech…didn't I?" Tenten sputtered.

"Don't worry I'm not going to fire you," Ino sighed. "Not after the way the speech went today just PLEASE try to pay more attention and manage your time better."

"Well this one wasn't my fault!" Tenten piped up. "The people at McDonalds…" Ino quickly sent her a stern look and Tenten sighed and laid back up against a wall and resumed stuffing her face.

"Hey," Shikamaru said lazily leaning up against the wall beside her with an apple in his hand.

"Hey," was all Tenten said back.

"Are you glad that we skipped the long pleasantries at the beginning of the speech now?" he asked. Tenten just muttered something under her breath and Shikamaru chuckled before taking a bite of the apple.

* * *

"Better get your stuff packed," he yawned. "We start touring the country soon and we head off to Chicago tomorrow night which means we'll need to draft a speech tonight." Tenten just kept eating. "Asuma's gonna meet with the mayor, tour the city and then speak in one of the public arenas on live T.V."

"Okay," was all Tenten said as she kept focusing on her food. Shikamaru looked at her with a blank bored expression.

"Tell you what," he said. "I'll compose the draft, you just get some sleep tonight."

"I'll be fine," Tenten said quickly. "I'm going to stop by the doctor later and get some pills for my sleeping problem."

"If you're sure," Shikamaru shrugged before walking off. Tenten sighed, looked back down at her food and dumped some more potato salad onto her plate.

"You really shouldn't be stuffing your face like that," another smug voice drifted over. Tenten didn't bother to turn around.

"Let me guess, because it's not lady like, period! Am I right?" she snapped.

"It's not refined for anyone, period." Neji said casually leaning up against the table. "Especially for a woman like you." Tenten paused trying to decide how to interpret that sentence before looking up at Neji who was simply sending a superior looking smile down at her. The silence between the two lasted longer as Tenten tried to decide just what Neji was hinting at.

"Well if you had your way, you'd have all the girls wearing dresses right?" Tenten asked shoveling the food into her mouth without taking her eyes off of Neji.

"Of course not," Neji sighed looking back down at her as if he was explaining things to a small child. "Not in this day and age. Today it's far too difficult to cook with a dress on."

"You would know wouldn't you miss Hyuga," Tenten shot back and smiling as she watched the smirk vanish from Neji's face quicker than Rock Lee on a sugar high. All these years and nothing had changed. Questioning Neji's gender still irritated him to no end.

"Feminist's," he huffed under his breath. It was Tenten's turn to smirk.

"Don't worry we can still tell that you're a man, even if your hair is better than mine." Neji sent her a look. He was about to respond when he turned his attention over towards Kurenai and Asuma who had been in a friendly conversation for the press. The key word here being 'Had'.

**And that's the chapter! I hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi...Yeah so I'm back. Thanks to all the people who reviewed last time! You're great! Hope you enjoy! :b**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! This is simply a non affiliated promotional piece. See ya!**

"_And so I saw a vision from heaven, and a being descended down and said to me…Asuma, smack thy opponent in the face." _The pseudo reporter paused to allow for applause and laughter from the audience, his face placed in a tight frown. _"That goes_ _with apologies to some of our more sensitive viewers, but seriously folks he…he hit her in the face. I mean, screw democracy! This is the voting process of the future! Presidential cage matches…to the death! I think Sarutobi here may just be trying to exert his male dominance just a little to hard?" _The crowd laughed again. _"She's about half your weight dude, just let her out of the half nelson of death alright?"_

Ino pressed the mute button and quickly launched the remote at the plaid green carefully stitched couch. Asuma visibly flinched as it bounced off of his forehead.

"That!" she began angrily heavily enunciating every word. "Was last night's Colbert Report! After it went viral more than twenty million people saw it! Do you know how bad you've made us look? You know how bad you've made the United States look?"

"Look, nobody watches the guy, I'm sure you're just blowing this out of proportion." Asuma said sheepishly trying to avoid eye contact.

"Saskue! Give me the reports," Ino snapped not taking her eyes off of Asuma. The man quickly handed her the papers then backed away as quickly as possible as if the whole affair was none of his business. "The Queen of England expressed deep disgust at the actions that transpired. The Chinese Premier said he was disappointed in his 'western allies' and the Jamaican Ambassador to the United States fell over in his chair laughing after watching the leaked video footage.

"Come on, I told you nobody watches the Colbert Report. I don't think that it's…"

"YOU GOT INTO A FIST FIGHT WITH A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE!" Ino screamed, leaning straight down and roaring in Asuma's face. Ino Yamnaka was the only woman alive that anyone knew who could force Asuma Sarutobi to go completely silent.

"Tenten! You were there, tell me what happened!" Ino snapped.

"Well first, Asuma complained about the overspending in the government before Kurenai cut in blasting him for wanting to reduce social programs to reduce the deficit before Asuma said that we needed to cut it if we ever wanted to reduce the countries national debt while Kurenai argued that it would be better to just take money away from all the greedy corporations that funded his campaign. He called her a textbook reality blind liberal and she called him a money grubbing feminist hating pig. Then they started making out, then they started making out harder." Tenten began as she slowly started to drift off.

"Tenten! Stay on topic." Ino said snapping her fingers.

"Huh? Oh right sorry, yeah I have no idea what happened," Tenten shrugged. Shikamaru just shook his head as he looked back up at the television to see Kurenai and Asuma scuffling with each other for the twentieth time that day.

"This isn't looking good, for either candidate," he muttered to himself.

"Are you kidding?" Ino asked her voice lowering to a dangerous tone as the people in the room began looking back towards the screen. "Of course the media is going to pin this on Asuma." Her face tightened as her hand closed firmly around the ever present clipboard. A hush settled over everyone in the room as they felt Ino's anger build. Her eyebrows furrowed before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Shit," was the only word that the woman mumbled before sending the clipboard went sprawling onto the table. "I bet Shino never has problems like this."

* * *

"_Today on 'Misunderstood, Maniac or Moron!' we take a closer look at the fight that everyone's been talking about." A smartly dressed man in a navy blue suit began without humor. "Presidential Candidates Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi duking it out with each other."_

The video footage began to play with the Kurenai campaign watching. Shino stood directly behind his client making sure she saw every second of it. Neji buried his head in his hands; the job had just gotten a lot more difficult. The man on the television finally cracked a smile.

"_I'll admit, I find this amusing at times but here's what's not funny…" _He paused the video and the frown returned. _"Right…here! Kurenai can be seen, not clearly mind you, due to the fuzzy nature of the video, but she can be seen slapping Asuma Sarutobi first. And yet most of my fellow news colleagues have branded Asuma the bad guy simply because he was the male here. What kind of nation are we running where and candidate to be president of the entire damn country for crying out loud, is given quarter to slap another candidate and then get away scot free just because of her gender? If I didn't know better, I'd say that this was all planned. That's why I'm branding Kurenai Yuhi today's moron and Asuma as misunderstood! Back to you Will."_

Shino snapped the T.V off and stepped in front of Kurenai before raising his arms as if to say 'well?'. Kurenai just glared back.

"So," Shino asked emotionlessly, hands in pockets. Kurenai raised her eyebrows. "Did you start the fight?"

"No!" Kurenai shouted at once. "Yes! Maybe! I don't know! It's all a big blur." Shino buried his head in his hands and groaned. Subtly, he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes before returning them to there natural position. "Come on! Nobody watches Fox News."

"You want to know why this matters, because obviously the media is going to pin this on us. If we're going to get you out of this we're going to need the whole story." Shino reasoned. Kurenai threw her hands up in the air.

"I don't know okay, I just don't know," she sighed and sat back in her seat.

"Well we'd better come up with one quick," Kiba growled from a nearby couch where he sat with his laptop. Akamaru whined at his feet. "You just got an email from the minority leader, he wants an answer. 'What the hell…' yadda yadda 'reconsidering my endorsement'…blah blah blah. That senator from Michigan is writing to us as well. Oh and the Chaplain of the House just wrote asking if we need prayer at this quote unquote difficult time."

"Tell him yes," Ibiki's cold voice drifted in from the corner. "It's going to take a miracle to undo this damage."

"Well then let's move people," Shino started in an emotionless yet commanding voice. "Temari, Neji, get on the New York speech, I'll have the others prepare one for a televised apology if it's necessary. Also prep for the questions we'll be getting from the media today. Kiba start penning those letters to the senate and Kurenai, come with me, you've got a meeting with those high profile congressmen today, we've probably already got there vote but after today we need to be sure. I'm sure Ino never had problems like this." He grumbled.

* * *

"_Attention passengers we'll be landing in Chicago in exactly one hour, please return to your seats as we make the necessary preparations for landing." _

"That's our queue gentlemen," Ino said turning to two straight faced and emotionless looking men in ruffled clothing. "Anything else I should know?" The shorter one leaned over and pointed to a note card that Ino had been holding in her hand.

"Since he's going with the mayor, if he should be invited to a non formal dinner while the press is around and wants to go for the man of the people image then this bottom sentence is the acceptance line."

"If he feels the visit is going poorly and wants to try and re-secure the mayors support then it would be best if he goes someplace for deep dish pizza," the other one spoke up. Neither of the pale skinned men had even glanced at each other, they seemed to be completely on the same page.

"But if it is formal," the other one finished. "Then his acceptance is on this card and the speech will be left to your other staff members."

"Thank you Sai, Shin," Ino said nodding to the two of them and snapped the cards under the clipboard. "You two have been a big help." The two just nodded politely. "So are you enjoying being with the tour so far?"

"It's an honor to be working here," Sai said, although he didn't look like he meant it. "The food is excellent the people are pleasant."

"Except for that one girl," Shin cut in. Sai nodded reluctantly.

"Tenten," Ino grumbled sucking in her breath and tightening her lips.

"Actually it wouldn't be so bad if she just didn't keep calling us…"

"LACKEYS! Research who was speaker of the house under Ronald Regan!" Tenten yelled leaning out of one of the luxury jets many private rooms and snapping her fingers.

"Tenten for the last time they are assistant writers here to help me micromanage the campaign, not your personal servants!" Ino yelled. "And the answer is Jim Wright."

"Great! Now do you know a word that rhymes with frostbitten teeth?" Tenten asked with an innocent smile.

"Are you sure you're heading in the right direction with this?" Shin asked carefully. Tenten nodded reluctantly and smacked Shikamaru on the arm.

"See? I told you we should've gone with frostbitten nose!" Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and ducked back into the room as Tenten followed.

"Doesn't that get annoying after awhile?" Sai questioned with a perfectly straight face.

"I've learned to tune it out, it's all white noise at this point," Ino shook her head as she escorted the two to another section of the plane. Back inside the private room Shikamaru glared at Tenten.

"So that looks like the second draft it done, when do you want to run it by him?" Tenten smiled looking at the document on her computer.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" He glared at her, hand carefully folded in his lap, legs crossed as he leaned back in the black leather chair.

"Excuse me? If you're talking about putting off the revision I really don't think we need it."

"How long are you going to play miss chipper while you tear yourself to pieces in your work?" Shikamaru asked shaking his head.

"What?...Oh…Come on!" Tenten said hitting save. "I am not tearing myself up alright. I'm not even stressed okay? I'm a speck writer for the future president! What could be better?"

"Tenten don't try to start flip flopping on this issue okay? Which, by the way is what we just did with the Eastern European tariffs issue. I'd suggest changing that before submitting it to the campaign committee." Tenten paused and rechecked the document, typed before she began shaking her head. "Look I know what you told me okay and I'm not stupid enough to believe that everything is fine and dandy now alright just because you found a new grudge match?"

"Can we please not go here and just focus on the job?" Tenten whined, sounding like a responsible person.

"Look, I know what your deal is okay? And if you want I can make some phone calls and find you a cheap place of your own to rent. I can take over the writing for a few days you just get some rest. I can bring in that assistant…Hoheto?"

"Isn't he like Hinata's great uncle twice removed?"

"Something like that, look, I'm just asking you as a friend to take it easy okay?" Tenten just focused on her laptop. "You still haven't got a boyfriend? Fine! I can get you a date! Just please take a break will you?" The girl paused and looked up at him.

"A date? With you?" she asked almost looking amused before turning back to the keyboard and typing again. "Awwwwwkward."

"No not with me, I'd prefer a woman who wouldn't try to kill me while I was sleeping." Shikamaru said turning around to face the blank white airplane wall and leaning up against it tiredly.

"Oh come on, are you still on about that whole knife thing? That was spring break junior year!" Tenten said, a mischievous grin coming to her face. "I was young and crazy."

"And now you're just crazy," Shikamaru scoffed. "I'm just saying that after high school you seem to have lost all your steam and with what's been going down the past few days I'm worried about…"

"Oh my word, look at my wrist," Tenten said nonchalantly glancing down at her bare arm. "We'd better get to our seats before our plane lands."

"This isn't over Tenten," Shikamaru called out after her as she waved without turning around. "Not by a long shot," he mumbled.

"Now, you'll be shuffled into a limo, just wave and don't take questions. We'll do the debrief in the car but I'm going to give you the once over right now." Ino continued firing off words like bullets from a gun. Not even the somewhat jarring landing prevented her from slowing down. "You'll be interacting with the hotel staff, here's the words and topics you want to avoid right now and don't forget the mayor will also be there to greet you so I want you to remember that he's a big talker you'll do better to just sit and listen but we do have a few lines for you…they've got everything ready for us. Now stand up straight, keep your tie in order, remember just like we practiced smile, put your arm out to wave and your on!" Ino huffed, taking in a deep breath as she all but pushed Asuma from the plane and into the blinding light of the camera flashes.

"Asuma who started the fight?!"

"Mister Sarutobi care to comment on the allegations that you were the one who slapped her?"

"Sir over here!"

"Just smile and wave, smile and wave," Ino whispered as the two pressed forward.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it's just going from bad to worse." Ino yawned into her cellphone as she crashed onto the bed in her hotel room.

"It's a dilemma to be sure," Shino agreed on the other end glancing out the window at the green scenery as the campaign bus rode to Boston. "Because this is a most unusual election."

"You mean due to the slap fest?" Ino asked.

"You wanna know why? Because both candidates chose there running mates within hours of the election. That's never happened before. Then due to the fight we're suddenly competing for a much larger percentage of the people's votes rather than the half a percent of people who are undecided. And to my knowledge neither of us has even begun the process to get a formal apology out there." Shino finished explaining to his old school mate with what would have probably sounded like pretentious superiority to anyone else.

"My thoughts exactly," Ino nodded. "How about we keep it that way?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"A presidential debate," Ino said with a smug smile. Grasping Ino's attitude from the tone of her voice Shino nodded his head.

"That does sound unusual. So early in the campaign? It's practically unheard of. I suppose we could before we start the attack ads."

"Great, we'll work out the details later, just inform your staff now," Ino grinned before hanging up. This just might work out after all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, this chapter is going to seem a little strange but I've got a couple plot points I'm setting up in here, so if you could role with it, that'd be helpful :b**

**Once again, I try to write this story without a political bias, I am a republican but fan fiction is no place for politics, it's for fans to write fiction…duh. Now, I'd like to thank my reviewers! Once again, y'all rock! So here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy!**

"Children are this nation's most valuable resource! I pledge to get more kids off of the streets and back into school!" Asuma finished as the crowd got to it's feet and began to applaud. "Thank you Chicago! I hope I can count on your support this year!" he smiled waving to the still applauding crowd. The mayor behind him rose out of his chair and began shaking Asuma's hand as the camera's began flashing. The two politicians just smiled politely for about a minute and a half before nodding to each other and waving to the crowd for another two minutes before a whistle came from off stage.

Slowly and tactfully, Asuma continued waving to the crowd as he made his exit. As he disappeared from the view of the camera's he breathed a sigh of relief. "How'd we do?" he asked wearily.

"We've basically just reaffirmed our belief that your fathers voters in Chicago are going to vote for you," Ino sighed while Asuma shook his head. "Look, the problem with elections is forty nine percent of people are already voting for the democrats, another forty nine for the republicans, half of the people left are definitely leaning one way and all we've got to compete for is that final one percent. Those people out there were part of our forty nine percent."

"Well then, how did I do speech wise?" he replied hopefully.

"You're no Ronald Regan, I'll tell you that much," Ino drawled as they passed Hianta with the security holding the press back. "If there's one thing you and your father can't do, it's play to the crowd."

"Then how do we win?" Asuma chuckled as they were joined by the secret service who boarded them all onto Asuma's campaign van.

"Well obviously, because you're good with one on one speeches and you play your cards very carefully," Ino glanced up at the van's T.V screen to see a clip of the fight from yesterday playing for the hundredth time. "Most of the time anyway. That's why, and you two will need to hear this," she called motioning Shikamaru and Tenten over "I went ahead and scheduled a debate for you and Kurenai in two weeks."

"So soon?" Asuma gaped.

"I thought debates were held near the end of the campaigns so your arguments will still be fresh in the voters heads when they go to vote," Tenten argued before placing a hand on her chin. "Unless…"

"Unless, this is less about swinging voters and more about giving people something to think about instead of the fight." Shikamary finished as Ino nodded.

"Exactly, so I'm putting Sai and Shin on the script writing duty for now, I want you two to start preparing for the debate." Ino said, Tenten groaned inwardly at the thought of all that preparation. "Something wrong?" Ino asked.

"No," Tenten said quickly, "Nothing at all ma'am."

* * *

"Well it was nice meeting with you Kurenai, after hearing your end of the story I think that the media reports of your involvement have been grossly exaggerated." A tall slim Massachusetts senator said respectfully as the two had a quick handshake.

"Not a problem," she smiled warmly as they all rose from the long meeting table. "I'm glad to get this all sorted out."

"As am I," another senator spoke up in a cynical tone. "Or this could turn out to be the dirtiest race since Obama and Romney." **1**

"Well I can guarantee you that I and my campaign will be on its best behavior for the rest of the election run." Kurenai continued, as if on cue Temari's voice came from out in the hall.

"You want us to do what?! WHAT?!" Shino stood in the direct line of Temari's verbal fire, nonchalantly taking every word of it. "The hell you say, first you take me off main speech writing and put me on addresses to officials, then you take me off that and now your putting me on the debate! I can't be of any use if you keep throwing me around like this!"

"Things change," Shino shrugged as he walked away leaving an infuriated Temari and Neji behind.

"That son of a…" Kurenai started talking quickly to cover up the next part of Temari's rant.

"So, it was a pleasure talking with you gentlemen but I must be going now." She smiled.

"Are you sure you won't join us for dinner, we have reservations at the if you'd like to join us."

"I'm sure it would be the perfect media event," another put in helpfully.

"Sorry, I'm scheduled to visit the children's hospital…" Kurenai began regretfully before the senator held up his hand again.

"No rest for the weary," he nodded. "Still, we should schedule something for a later date." Kurenai smiled with an agreeing nod again as she left.

"Kurenai did you know that Shino scheduled a debate?" Temari yelled as soon as she exited the room.

"Yes, Temari, Shino ran it by me earlier." Kurenai said grumpily thinking back on the overwhelmingly long day.

"And you didn't tell us about it?! Guess who he just put in charge on the speech? Guess who's going to be doing all the work? Guess who's going to be wasting her time doing a crap ton of research just to answer on some damn congressman no ones ever heard of to answer some damn question no one will care about on a damn T.V debate no one will watch? Me!"

"Hey other head speech writer standing right here," Neji jumped in.

"Quiet you," Temari growled.

"Okay, you're an asshole," Neji shot back callously.

"You wanna fight pretty boy?" Temari asked as the two resumed glaring at each other.

"Would you two just shut up?"Kurenai asked angrily. "I've been through hell today and I don't need to hear you two arguing when I've got work to do. So while I go do my job, why don't you two go and start doing yours before I fire both your ass's?"

Without another word the two quickly walked around her and towards the elevator with their heads down.

"Wow," Kiba chuckled as he saw the two stumble quietly into the elevator. He leaned out and caught a glimpse of Kurenai storming away. "What happened? Is Kurenai…"

"No Kiba," Temari said sending him a nasty glare. "Just because a female has a mood swing does not always mean she's on her period. We're all sick of those jokes at this point."

"So she's bipolar then?" Kiba asked innocently.

"No,"

"PMSing?"

"Idiots," Temari seethed.

"Are you on your period?"

"That's it," Temari roared as Kiba ducked to avoid the fist flying straight towards his face immediately as the elevator him ground level. The doors opened allowing him bolted for the exit laughing

"It was totally worth it!"

"It'll be a miracle if I end this job sane," she mumbled. "So what's next women hater?"

"Why do I have to keep explaining this to you?" Neji asked as the two walked out of the building and into downtown Chicago. "I don't hate women, I think they're better confined to traditional social roles. Men are the physically stronger gender and my father always told me to protect the weaker sex. Excuse me for trying to have some manners."

"Manners are sexist," Temari shot back.

"Should kindness know gender boundaries?" Neji replied smugly.

"Hey, ask Tenten if you know the meaning of kindness," Temari huffed as Neji's grin turned into a frown.

"That's just because we go way back," he said trying to sound passive.

"Yeah and from the sound of things, it seems like you were a sick little bastard even back then," it was Temari's turn to smile as they reached the campaign bus. "Are you even a democrat?"

"The role of the government is to protect and serve, I think that we don't do enough on the serving end. Even to stuck up blonde haired loud mouthed b…"

"Hey manners," Temari reminded him with a smile and then before he had time to respond. "Anyway, what do we have to do first?"

"Introduction, attack questions, defense responses, quips, closing and a reminder of anything she should steer clean off all condensed onto ten 8X10 notecards," Neji said quickly flipping on his laptop.

"Okay, let's go back through all the speeches and review the stances we've taken. Will we have to run all these by the committee?" she asked.

"Yes, heaven forbid we have a repeat of San Antonio," Neji sighed opening several documents.

"Is that where we accidentally got her to support the NRA?"

"That's the one," Neji mumbled stoically.

"Oi," Temari groaned looking over his shoulder. "This is going to be a ton of work."

"Well, we can't let Tenten get the jump on us," Neji sighed as the two started preparing.

* * *

"But I don't wanna," Tenten whined.

"Come on Tenten," Shikamaru said as he tried to pull her into a seat. "We've got to get to work." Tenten just whined again. "Okay, this re-emphasizes my point, you really are tired aren't you?" Almost immediately Tenten was down in her chair at her laptop.

"Of course not, totally not tired, I'm ready to do this, come on, come on let's get started," she said trying to sound eager. Shikamaru just shook his head.

"Look Tenten, it's okay, if you're feeling drained we can just carry on tomorrow, I could really do with a rest myself." He said carefully.

"Are you sure?" Tenten eyed him suspiciously.

"Absolutely," he yawned. Seeing his lazy demeanor Tenten finally nodded.

"Okay, but we pick up first thing tomorrow, seven o clock sharp alright?" she reminded him.

"Not a problem," he yawned again while stretching his arms.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then," she said walking off. Shikamaru watched her leave carefully then reached over onto the table and grabbed her cellphone. He looked at the clock alarm played around with it and set it back down in its exact position being very careful not to disturb anything else.

"It's for your own good," he mumbled to himself.

**1. Seriously, it's not just Romney or Obama, they're both acting like complete idiots, it not even about politics anymore they're just playing the blame game and blasting each other for all they're worth. **

**Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading and please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**And we're back! Thanks so much to the reviewers! You guys rock! I know the story may get over the top and confusing and cheesy but you guys have stuck with it apparently! Thanks a ton for putting up with my obtuse writing style XD lol**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

Tenten groaned and turned over to face her cell phone as an angry head pounding rock and roll tune from the 80's filled her hotel room. She quickly flipped off the alarm and went back to sleep with a groan of.

"Five more minutes,"

* * *

"Well I want to thank you for meeting with us on such short notice Hoheto," Shikamaru said with a vague smile on his sleepy face.

"Well it's no trouble, thank you for calling me, when you drop by Chicago again, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." The Hyuga man nodded with a rehearsed smile. "Good luck Mister President." Asuma smiled and nodded back fishing out a cigarette, looking around to make sure Ino wasn't watching.

"Oh don't give me that look," Asuma said as Shikamaru raised an eyebrow with a disappointed glare on his face. "Franklin Roosevelt smoked." Shikamaru just waved a hand away from his face as if to say 'whatever'.

"I think we to plan a bit more on your tax reform part and refocus it more on your personal beliefs," Shikamaru said worriedly, rubbing a hand behind his head. "It'll separate you from the party more."

"Hey kid relax, I was writing speeches back when I was governor and I didn't have any writers back then, I can handle a little debate," Asuma said reassuringly. "By the way, where's Tenten? It's three in the afternoon, is she sick or something?"

"Sir" a secret service agent announced coming up alongside of him. Ever since the nominations had been secured, government employed security teams had been watching over Asuma twenty four seven. "Miss Yamanaka would like me to tell you that guerillas attacked an Israeli military caravan on Beirut, Damascus Road. She wants you to work that into the debate somehow. Also, we've detained a women on the premise, she's clearly distraught and resorted to violence when we attempted to restrain her. She is one of your employees and we suspect she may have become disgruntled with the work load." It was at this point that Shikamaru's face found its way into the palms of his hands.

"Was she armed?" He asked in a knowing voice. The agent looked surprised but nodded. "Well it's just an old cap gun that shoots pepper spray."

"How the hell does someone even make something like that?" Asuma asked incredulously.

"She went to college with Kiba, you do the math," Shikamaru said rolling his eyes. "Let her go, she's not insane, just really pissed."

"Shikamaru! You piece of shit!" Tenten screamed.

"I think I've got somewhere to be right now," Asuma said offhandedly as he tried to stroll away casually. Tenten grabbed Shikamaru by his collar almost like a hawk grabs a mouse.

"You," she said with an angry huff.

"Now you see how much more productive you can be when you're fully rested?" Shikamaru asked casually. Tenten's gripped closed tighter.

"We're not in college anymore Shikamaru!" she yelled again.

"Clearly," the man said rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"Don't you play innocent with me! You made me miss a full days worth of work," she began with a menacing glare a malicious intent clear in her eyes.

"I'm already done, I called in a sub we went over the issues with Asuma, outlined and began phrasing them…" Shikamaru shrugged calmly, fully aware that he was on thin ice and the next mistake he made could very well be his last. He swore he could've seen Tenten's eye twitch.

"Let me ask you something," Tenten began looking straight into his eyes. "Do you remember in high school, on graduation day when the Air Force showed up to ship Kiba off because Choji and Naruto had filed an enlistment form under his name?"

"The day that he tied them to the top of the flag pole and started throwing eggs at them?"

"The reason the school board decided to switch from flag poles to standardized flags at the top of the building." Tenten nodded. "What do you say we attempt to recreate than scenario?"

"I sense some tension here," Shikamaru said, still in an offhand calm voice. Tenten snapped, she picked up a table chair and rushed at him. Shikamaru backed up suddenly jumped over a coffee table before moving to the back of the room.

"Hey!" a familiar voice yelled. Ino walked briskly into the room, ever present clipboard in hand. "What do you two think you're doing? I'm really busy today, I don't have time for your usual crap."

"What do you think I'M doing?" Tenten cried. "It's Shikamaru's fault, I missed work today!"

"I know," Ino said nodding. "He called me last night saying that you were a little stressed and you needed to go home for a day. Clearly he was understating the situation, I want you to go see Hinata right now."

"What?! Why?" Tenten demanded, shocked. "What did he tell you?"

"Tenten," Ino demanded. "She majored in Psychology alright, just go to Hinata's office, now." Tenten looked angrier and put her foot down. "Please escort her," Ino snapped at the secret service. The men in black shared glances looking unsure of the situation then deciding to follows orders easily hoisted the woman up by each shoulder and began to walk off.

"Put me down! I've read the constitution! I know my rights! This is cruel and unusual punishment!" Tenten yelled as she was pulled away.

"It's for you own good Tenten," Ino called as watched her be dragged away. She let out a small sigh. "Seriously Shikamaru, you should've come to me earlier if she was acting up like that." Asuma gave a lot whistle as Ino walked away.

"Well?" he asked curious to see the boys through process behind the whole event.

"Ino would've never believed me if I'd just addressed her about it upfront and Tenten would've been able to give Ino what she wanted to hear with this debate coming up she wants all hands on deck. Now, Tenten would've never gone to see Hinata for psychological treatment on her own or even if I asked her to so…" he let the sentence trail off as left Asuma to fill in the blanks.

"Your evil genius," the man laughed finally. "That's almost brilliant!"

"Almost," Shikamaru asked in a joking voice as the two walked off.

* * *

"Would you like some tea Tenten-chan?" Hinata offered Tenten in a soothing voice, holding up the fine white china glass. "Earl gray."

"No," Tenten responded in a voice that almost sounded like a pout.

"I-it will calm your nerves," Hinata protested shyly, pulling the cup away nevertheless.

"I'm fine," Tenten sighed. "Totally and utterly, fine." Hinata just nodded knowingly as she set herself down in a chair straight across from Tenten in the back of the new luxury campaign van.

"W-would, yo-you mind explaining what happened back there?" Hinata asked. The other woman scowled and pulled her legs up onto the chair. "What could've gotten you so worked up? Or maybe a better question would be, why are you so stressed?"

"I'm not stressed, I'm just eager," Tenten insisted with a glare in Hinata's direction. Her shy smile didn't move, instead she just flipped a stray lock of dark blue hair from her eyes and nodded her head.

"Tenten-chan, it's hard to lie to someone who's known you since kindergarten," Hinata paused briefly before continuing. Tenten just tried to avoid making eye contact. "You've been working late, you've had some tough jobs. You've had to deal with that fight among the candidates. I'm wondering if you're really cut out for this line of work?"

"Of course I am!" Tenten said immediately standing up. "I can do it, no problem! I'm efficient, I'm confident, I get things done."

"Tenten," Hinata said softly.

"I have a degree to do this stuff! I'm qualified! Ask my college professors!"

"Tenten, that's not what I'm trying to say here."

"What, do you think that just because I'm a women that I can't do my job as well as everyone else? Huh? Is that what you're implying?!" she demanded, tone rising again.

"Is this about my cousin?" Hinata asked finally in a quiet but quite firm voice, doing her best not to stutter again. There was silence as the realization his Tenten like a ton of bricks.

"Yeah, probably," Tenten moaned taking a deep breath and slumping back down into her chair. "I just have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing so I'm trying to throw myself into my work to prove to that smug jerk that I can do it well even though I'm a woman because your cousin is, no offense, an idiot."

"Well you realize that from an adaption psychology standpoint this probably stems from your past where you grew up without parents. This might have come up somewhere in your ancestry where a defensive mechanism in the form of an aggressive personality to scare away potential predators was set in place." Tenten just sighed and tilted her head to one side.

"Doesn't sound like me," she shrugged. Hinata sweat dropped.

"Well the lack of a parental authority to guide you in a certain direction could've caused you to develop this type of traditional gender role defying attitude according to a social cultural analysis." There was silence between the two as Tenten looked at Hinata silently who shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"Huh?" Tenten asked finally. Hinata just sighed again.

"Without parents to teach you what boys and girls do you developed an attitude from figures like Kurenai sensei who advocated views that were a bit different from the usual ones." Hinata tried again.

"I was raised by nuns until I went to grade school," Tenten said again with a simple shrug.

"Huh, well according to the cognitive approach you seem to be rewarded by the kind of aggressive behavior you engage in." Hinata suggested. Tenten just shrugged.

"Okay well, there is the psychodynamic approach if you're into that sort of thing…" Hinata finished with a mumble, her face turning red.

"What's that?" Tenten questioned with a curious glance.

"W-well…uh, um, it's um, t-th-that is to s-say…uh gomen," Hinata said, trying to hide her by now, rose red blush behind her tea cup. "Have you ever heard of a psychologist named Freud?"

"He's the only psychologist I know," Tenten shrugged. "Is he the one with the beard".

"Um, yes," Hinata said looking at the carpeting with had just become a topic of great interest to her. "He has a few theories that could explain your situation…"

"Well," Tenten sighed. "I guess I'm open to it at this point. Let's hear it!"

"W-w-wel-well, according to F-Freud, our behavior…" Hinata took a deep breath and began to recite rapidly. "reflects the constant subconscious psychodynamic conflicts that occur when our we feel the need to instantly satisfy our instinctive needs."

"What are you saying?" Tenten asked warily back on her guard.

"You seem to have the classic reaction formation that Freudian psychology talks about, your defending against an unacceptable impulse, sexual attraction to a someone who you view as to bigoted, by acting the opposite of it so it appears as a strong dislike instead of the socially unacceptable idea of procreation." Hinata said blazing through the information and taking a deep breath at the end, her face looking tomato red and dazed. Tenten just blinked, wide eyed and slumped back down.

"Wow…Freud was kind of…absolutely insane." She finished. Hinata nodded silently, her head pointed in a downward position, completely silent. "I think I'll take the tea now."

* * *

"So, how did it go?" Shikamaru asked, keeping his distance as a visibly distraught Tenten walked his way. The girl wandered over and sat down beside him not saying a word.

"We are going to go beat the hell out of Neji Hyuga in that debate," Tenten said more to herself. "Yes! That's what we're going to do! To hell with Freud, we are going to go out there and we are going to win! Let's get researching!" she yelled getting ahold of herself again. Shikamaru watched her go, shook his head and gave a deep sigh. She hadn't changed at all apparently, but at least the talk seemed to have calmed her nerves a bit, maybe now he could work without having to worry about his friend.

**Lol, yeah right XD The seeds have been planted! Next chapter is the debate! Oh if only my psychology teacher could see me now. She'd probably try to strangle me :b But hey. Freud though, he was a seriously messed up man. I was going through my old psych notes the other day for a paper and I thought it might be fun to move the story along and first introduce the idea of attraction that way! :D So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed and please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back! Just one thing to say and that is that this chapter was really fun to write, it's been quite awhile since I've enjoyed writing anything this much. Kind of sad when you look at it but maybe's it's my feeling about what's to come in the future ;) Okay so two things to say, I have no idea about the theater so I can only assume how some things work. And the third thing I have to say, (alright so i actually and quite chatty today) is that you, my reviewers and readers rock! Thanks so much for sticking with these long chapters and sections full of political jargon :b I hope you enjoy!**

"I'm telling you she's out of control," Shikamaru sighed.

"I sent her to talk with Hinata, what else do you want me to do?" Ino questioned as she shook her head. Shikamaru gave a defeated sigh, giving a lazy huff after some hesitation. "Look she's not a bad girl she's just eccentric."

"That's what they said about John Hinckley Jr. during his defense trail to," Shikamaru spouted randomly.

"Tenten is not a psychotic would be presidential assassin," Ino said shaking her head again tiredly. "We've known her since high school."

"And for some reason you still decided to hire her," Shikamaru shrugged. "Look, I'm just saying that she has a whole lotta issues that interfere with her work. She's killing herself out there okay?"

"You have to understand that I have a whole lot more on my plate than just you two, you're very important to me, both of you but I have a lot to manage. Professionally I can't step in until this starts to affect her work performance." Ino explained. "When that happens I will take drastic action but until then, look, I know she's…quirky and I know you hate that kind of stuff but she's not weird or anything."

"You haven't seen anything weird," Shikamaru asked in his trademark monotone with a look of disbelief in his eyes. Ino shook her head again.

"Shikamaru I've been thinking, since you're constantly trying to interfere with my work we're going to be sticking together from now on," Tenten began, taking out a pair of handcuffs and slapping them on.

"Well get ready to," Shikamaru said turning back to Ino. "Where did you get these things?"

"Well you remember when we were at that bar in Tampa and you had…"

"Never mind," Shikamaru cut in. "That tells me everything I need to know."

"Then come on we've got work to do," Tenten said dragging him off. Shikamaru looked back at Ino with an actual pleading face, sometimes he really hated his job.

Washington D.C and her citizens were no stranger to being put on high alert, after all, being the center of a major world government often made you the target for protests, riots, rallies and terrorist strikes, but never before had the government been at such immediate and physical risk from one of it's own congress members.

Currently, a man by the name of Hidan was back against one of the walls of the capitol building in a defensive posture being faced down by an army of cops.

"Sir just put down the… uh, um…" the head officer in charge struggled to find the correct words for just what the heck he was staring at.

"My scythe?" Hidan practically hissed giving it a violent swing to keep the police from getting any funny ideas.

"Sir we just got a positive ID on him, that's Congressman Hidan," a plain clothes detective said handing him a paper.

"How the hell did he become a politician?" the police man scratched his head wondering just how far the government had fallen.

"There's a little district out in Nevada with nothing but hippies!" a cheery voice chimed in as several other figures arrived.

"Shut up TOBI!" Hidan shouted as he continued to brandish his scythe with malcontent gleaming in his eyes.

"I'm sorry officers," a smooth raven haired individual said without the slightest trace of emotion emitting from any place on his body as he slipped through the sea of officers, his presence virtually undetected until he spoke.

"What are you doing here Itachi? I can handle this myself!" Hidan yelled again.

"You are off your meds aren't you?" Itachi said, worlds flowing out of his mouth smooth as oil.

"Damn things were always suppressing my mind! Of course I'm off!" Hidan seethed sending Itachi a death glare.

"I'm sorry for this intrusion officer, we'll be taking our leave now," and with that, Itachi led Hidan away by the ear.

"Boy he sure knows how to take charge." The head officer sighed, shaking his head at the apparent state of these modern day politicians. Third party candidates, go figure.

"What's your deal Itachi?"Hidan asked angrily, retracting his scythe, removing the handle and placing them back into his bag very carefully. "I was showing this capitalistic world of non believers intent on keeping the two party status quo the reality of this world!"

"But attempting to kill them!" Tobi laughed jokingly.

"Well that's reality! Live with it!" Hidan yelled back in a sour mood.

"Say's the man who sent a bill to the Narcotics Abuse and Control committee to ban high fructose corn syrup," Another deep gravely voice that sounded like it had swallowed a box of thumb tacks for lunch spoke up. An enormous man appeared behind him, his pale blue tinted skin, spiky black hair and gill looking scars across his neck giving him a demonic appearance.

"Says…the man…who couldn't even get us into the first major debate of the year!" Hidan shot back, unable to find a good come back on the spot.

"They wouldn't let me in okay! They never let the third party into a strictly two party debate, the media wouldn't like it." The pale man said, his mood instantly turning cloudy as he turned away. "Of course no one responds to a freak like me do they?"

"Hidan," Itachi said impatiently, folding his arms and giving the extremist a disapproving glare.

"What? He didn't! Plus, high fructose corn syrup is heavily subsidized by the government! It makes you dumber! Look it up! It's a conspiracy I tell you! The only plausible solution is to…"

"You know Kisame doesn't respond well to criticism," Itachi said holding his ground.

"And he's blue!" Tobi chimed in. As usual, everyone ignored him.

"Now come on, we're going to go observe the debate in Seattle and help Deidara out," he continued as the group began walking back to his car.

"And by that you mean crash and sabotage right?!" Tobi yelled. Kisame and Hidan started smiling as Itachi shrugged his shoulders. This could turn out to be a good day after all.

"Tenten slow down, have you learned nothing from the past week," Shikamaru asked being dragged along by Tenten through the long corridors of the national auditorium of Seattle in preparation for the debate. Every big news station had been contacted, the party had organized the platform and security teams had moved in full force to scan everything that possibly looked like a bomb from any angle.

"The only thing I've really learned is that when you don't keep up with me, we fall over." Tenten explained as the two dodged a political constituent who gave the two an odd look. "Maybe if you hadn't insisted on letting yourself out of these every day to take a shower and go to the bathroom we'd have adapted to these things by now." Tenten said. "Hey! Speaker of the House Robert H. Micahel! Watch out for the democrats today! They're everywhere!" she called to an elderly looking man in a suit. He gave her a strange look but smiled and nodded nonetheless.

"He has no idea who we are and I will never adapt to these Tenten, it's the dumbest idea ever. Oh and you were the one who insisted on letting me out to shower because I smelled."

"You did! Your hair was the worst part…" Tenten was interrupted as they rounded a corner and crashed into another pair of people. "See know, his hair smells better. It smells like cookies and cream…" Tenten paused yet again as the group pulled themselves up off of the floor to be greeted by a familiar blonde haired woman and white eyed man.

"Go fucking figure," she grumbled throwing her arms in the air, bringing Shikamaru's reluctant limb up along with it.

"It's dove lavender actually," Neji said with a smirk motioning to his hair. "I'm sure the guys will all adore a lady who can't tell the difference between a flower and a heigen daz flavor."

"And I'm sure the women will all go crazy for a man who knows his shampoo brands." Tenten retorted with a nonchalant yet smug smile and nod of her head.

"We'll just see what happens out there on the field today," Neji said firmly changing his stance.

"Yes, we will and I will be backstage to see a grown man cry when we wipe the floor with his smug ass."

"Fine," Neji said as he began to walk off.

"Jerk," Tenten muttered.

"Loudmouth," Neji muttered back.

"Hardass,"

"Femenist,"

"That one doesn't even count as an insult okay!" Tenten said turning around and yelling.

"Then why do you take it as one?" Neji dared, egging her on.

"Because your narcissistic self praising attitude is making me sick!"

"Nothing compared to your unprofessional, gun toting, red neck, tomboy…"

"You really are one to talk you sushi eating…"

"Enough!" Shikamaru and Temari roared as they pulled the two apart. Neji and Tenten gave each other one last glare before they parted.

"I can't believe you let her get under your skin like that, you're usually so composed, what's wrong with you," Temari half snarled. Neji scoffed and focused on the path in front of him.

"Nervous?" Ino asked as the crew continued to place makeup all over her clients face.

"Not at all, I did this kind of stuff all the time as governor," Asuma said, holding his chin up, trying not to breathe to hard and blow the delicate powder off of his face.

"Well you should be. I don't think I have to remind you how much planning went into this. You missed a spot here," Ino said interrupting the work cycle by picking up a brush and delicately applying some makeup herself.

"That part of his face won't appear on T.V, only when he's walking out on stage." An advisor pointed out.

"And that's the time when the Detroit Times takes all its pictures," Ino reminded him, not taking her eyes off of Asuma's face. "Michigan is a swing state, we need this one to count."

"I'll make it count then," Asuma said with a grin. "You were the one that had to make sure that we'd be totally prepared for this thing."

"You're never totally prepared, just keep those notecards handy, remember what we rehearsed, most importantly," she said setting the brush down. "stick to your guns and be yourself." The two traded smiles as Asuma nodded and stood up while the artists went through the last final touch up stages.

"Also remember to choke up during the second paragraph about immigration and wipe away the tear in the middle of the fourth." Tenten said cheerily as she and Shikamaru appeared.

"Hey kids, here to wish me luck?" Asuma asked confidently, fitting notecards he knew by heart into his suit just to be sure.

"We're here to watch," Shikamaru said with a lazy smile. "We went over this thing so many times, I wouldn't miss this debate for the world."

"But he might for the keys to these handcuffs." Tenten said with mock seriousness. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he slipped his hand out with ease. "Hey! Since when have you been able to do that?"

"Since day one, how do you think I've been going back to my room when you fall asleep during the speech planning?" Shikamaru asked, boredom etched across his features.

"You mean you've been taking breaks?!" Tenten asked, looking stunned.

"Proving that I don't have to kill my mind at work to feel good about myself," Shikamaru retorted with the closet thing to a smug smile that he could muster.

"No," Tenten said examining the handcuffs and searching for the keys in her pocket. "All it proves is that you have very small wrists."

"Good luck out there," Shikamaru nodded with a sigh as Asuma smiled and walked out on stage to a roar of applause. The crew headed to the backstage camera's to watch.

"Looking good," Ino congratulated the makeup specialists as he shook hands with Kurenai and the mediator.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Yuhi, Sarutobi, first of all I would like to say that it is a privilege to be hosting another debate this fine election year," the mediator began, starting his infamous introduction speech.

"Oh crap," Tenten muttered.

"What is it now?" Shikamaru asked.

"You know those notecards?" Tenten replied, making imaginary pictures of them in the air to illustrate.

"Yeah, I gave them to Asuma beforehand." Shikamaru said looking at her worriedly.

"All of them?" she asked shocked.

"Yes all of them, containing the notes we went over, why shouldn't I give them to him?" Shikamaru answered incredulously.

"Didn't you notice the pile was a whole lot thicker than before?" Tenten asked.

"What are you getting at here?"

"I may have possibly made my own set of hate cards," she replied look up at the monitor.

"Possibly?" Shikamaru asked shaking his head.

"Possibly yeah," Tenten said. "It was my subconscious venting anger towards Neji I swear."

"You know there's evidence Freud changed the results of his experiments to better fit his hypothesis right?" Shikamaru said giving her an 'are you serious' look.

"Well fuck you Freud," Tenten sighed throwing her hands up in the air. "The point is I have to get those cards back before Asuma says a few words you can't say on television."

"Tenten just calm down alright? Asuma's not stupid alright? He'll know which cards we rehearsed and which ones we didn't."

"Are we talking about the same Asuma Sarutobi, if things get heated out there he won't be relying on memory anymore he'll be using those note cards to come up with facts on the spot. I have got to clean this thing up." She said quickly before running off.

"Tenten wait! This isn't hick town USA this is Seattle they've got…" Shikamaru never got to finish before Tenten disappeared. With a tired groan he began to chase after her. As Tenten rounded a corner and reached the edge of the stage a burly guard in a black suit stopped her.

"Miss, no one allowed past this point," he said sternly.

"Sorry, I really have to get out there, I've got a pass.?" She said waving it in front of him.

"Ma'am, only the president would be allowed out there right now."

"Then I'm really sorry about this," Tenten quickly slipping between the man's legs and dashed out onto the stage.

"We've got a live one here," the man yelled into his radio as he charged out after her. Seeing the man quickly gaining on her, Tenten dove towards Asuma's pulpit, which caused the guard to panic. Diving out after her he managed to grab her legs, Tenten in turn grabbed the pulpit pulling it straight off the floor. At the same instant at least fifteen secret service guards crashed into the pair sending them flying back into the curtain all the while shouting.

"She's trying to assassinate the governor! She's trying to assassinate the governor!" As the fell back into the blue curtain tearing it to pieces, their combined weight brought down the support beam holding curtains up. People screamed as the Tenten, the agents, the mediator, Kurenari and Asuma all dove for cover as the large wooden beam hit the ground with a crash sending dust flying everywhere.

"TENTEN!" Ino's absolutely livid voice yelled booming through the entire building.

"Thanks a lot assholes," Tenten said turning to the agent who was currently handcuffing her.

"This is Delta Red to Hawkeye, threat has been neutralized, repeat threat has been neutralized."

"Oh shut up," she muttered as Tobi ran out on stage swinging a baseball bat around randomly and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"The idiot completely missed his cue," Itachi sighed as the crew watched backstage. "We should regroup and plan some more."

"Tenten, I've tried to be nice, I've tried warnings, I've tried sending you to counseling and yet somehow you recklessness just keeps on growing and growing. You mind telling me What The Hell Is Going On?" she screamed.

"As soon as you tell me why he's here." Tenten asked glaring at Neji who was sitting right beside her.

"Tenten look, you're one of the brightest people I've ever met and I really don't want to let you go so in order to straighten you out, I've been working with Shino," she motioned to the silent figure standing beside her. "To make you two partners." Both Tenten and Neji's eyes went wide.

"What do you mean partners?" Tenten demanded standing up, fists balled. Neji shared her look, he was also standing but silently, a death glare on his face.

"You will be the liaison's between parties," Ino explained. "Going back and forth carrying the messages and helping me organize. You'll always be travelling either with our campaign or Kurenai's."

"But that' menial labor!" Neji cut in suddenly.

"That's in the job description for Hinata's subordinates!" Tenten agreed angrily.

"And now it's yours and you will be working side by side with Neji Hyuga the whole time perfectly or I will fire you for good," Ino warned.

"No, no, no! I would rather be fired." Tenten said quickly.

"I have a court mandated order for you to do so," Ino sighed holding out a piece of paper marked with an official signature. "I just got it, do you know how much damage you caused today? And do you know who's pockets it's coming out of? It's either money you don't have or this"

"Then why am I here? I have been nothing but efficient. It's not my fault she's a complete psycho." Neji said turning to Shino.

"At what cost? You lowered morale, started arguments that have caused big delays and also made us liable to a few accusations. You want to know why you're being forced into this? Because you are also indirectly responsible for it." Shino replied calmly. Ino nodded and turned back to the two who were still shooting death glares at each other.

"Now, I'll see both of you first thing tomorrow for your first assignment. Now, stay calm, don't kill each other and GET OUT!"

**And this is where things get interesting XD Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Did anyone else watch the presidential debates?...Just me then? Ok. I'm back! However late I may be, my bad guys, I had tests and I was feeling drained. Anywho! This chapter contains more feminist vs. traditionalist arguments and stuff, personally I think both sides could do to lighten up a bit so please don't take offense to what's said here, if there's anything that would offend you in this chapter…you can never be to careful. XD Yes, with these two finally reunited face to face only one thing can come of it...UST (unresolved sexual tension) :b IDK, i'm not very good when it comes to writing it but I try. With all that out of the way I hope you enjoy reading and if you haven't made plans to watch it yet, you should dvr the vice presidential debate, that's going to be an hour and fifteen minutes of two guys who we'll probably never hear off again despite whoever wins the race, going at each others throats. Sorry, I'm a politics nut.**

**Disclaimer: NO! Do you really need anything more than that at this point?**

"So through a convoluted plot twist that was bestowed upon me by my shrieking harpy of a boss," Tenten mumbled looking up at the Republican campaign bus.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Neji asked churlishly giving her a sharp glance.

"Sorry no," the girl countered. "I talk, I'm a talker, it's in the job description." Neji just rolled his eyes as Ino greeted them outside the doors with a single slip of paper. "I swear if we're going to be picking up Little Ceaser's for the whole crew I'm going to choose the lawsuit." Tenten said under her breath.

"Congratulations Tenten, we made the news again," Ino said with an apathetic look that seemed to cut the two straight to their bones. "CNN is running a special called, What's Wrong With This Election?" Quick as a flash she snapped a note card out from under her clipboard and held it out in her palm. Neji reached out his hand to take it before Tenten slapped it away and picked up the card.

"Mine," she said in a childish tone. Neji just rolled his eyes. "Hey, my turf, my boss." Tenten defended herself.

"Just read the damn card!" Neji snapped, the girl glared back at him. "Has anyone told you how much of a pain you are?"

"My co workers, just about every day and if you're going to get all huffy maybe I won't even read it!" Tenten shot back. Ino took off her reading glasses, set the clipboard down on a table by the van , snatched the card from Tenten's hand and slapped it on her employees face.

"Work!" she demanded with a stony glare as she picked her clipboard back up and marched back inside leaving the pair outside, baking in the sun. Tenten painfully peeled the slip of paper off of her cheek and looked at the only two words scrawled on it.

'Damage Control'

"Damage control?" Neji inquired. "What does she mean damage control?" Tenten turned a depressed glance up at Neji Hyuga, the boy she'd know since Kindergarten now placed at number one on her crap list, she looked into his trademark white eyes and even with the knowledge of everything that he'd done still almost found some shred of pity within her. Almost.

"Let it never be said that my boss doesn't have a sense of humor." Tenten sighed.

"G-good morning Tenten-chan, N-neji Nisan," a woman said making her prescience known. Tenten twirled around to see Hinata standing behind the two with a clipboard of her own and a pen in her hand.

"Cousin Hinata," Neji greeted respectfully. "What are you doing here this morning?" Hinata just looked at the twosome and smiled a bit to wide, that's when Tenten was sure that they were in deep, very deep.

* * *

"This is the second time! The second time! Fifteen percent of people in Texas are now considering independent vote, my own constituents might I remind you are now accusing me of aligning myself with right wing radicals and previously defunct bribery charges against the legislation are being renewed! Why is this happening? Can you tell me just what's going on in the committees over there?"

"I don't know? Why are you using big words I don't know?" Their was complete silence from the other end. Tenten swore she could hear the man's eye twitch. Finally, in a strained voice he coughed out an answer.

"Who the fu…"

"Geez man I'm just screwin with you," Tenten said quickly. "Listen, we're doing everything we can to sort this out but rest assured we'll be doing everything we can to help you and your own selfish needs in the process. This was all an accident and we've already scheduled press conferences to verify that information. This was the result on jumpy security and a mistake by an...intern." She recited, Neji snorted again from where he was sitting new to his own phone. She sent him a death glare before turning back to her phone.

"Good, I'm glad I was one of the first people you called," the man said with a haughty air. "Keep me informed, congressional elections are coming up and I'd like to keep my record as clean as possible."

"Of course sir," Tenten murmured before hanging up. "Ugh! If I have to talk to another one of these stuffy, money grubbing politicians I'm going to cut my own arm off! He'd be the last person I'd call,"

"No sir that was the opinion of my republican colleague who is also running damage control with me in this very room," Neji spoke managing to make his drawl sound official and elegant. Tenten mentally kicked herself, off course he still had to be on the phone. "Unfortunately, I don't think you can put that into writing without risking a libel charge sir. Yes, of course, goodbye."

"Why do you hate me?" Tenten asked sharply turning to him as he hung up.

"You decked me in the face," he answered matter-a-factly.

"Okay, any other reason that doesn't involve physical contact?" She retorted folding her arms.

"I don't hate you as I've said before," he said standing up just to prove the height difference between the two. "You're to delicate to be in this line of work."

"Here we go again! "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, who says my hand a needle better fits. A poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong for such despite they cast on female wits; If what I do prove well, it won't advance, They'll say it's stolen, or else, it was by chance."

"A hippy?" Neji asked sarcastically.

"Puritan," Tenten corrected smugly.

"1900's puritan?" Neji asked hopefully.

"1600's Anne Bradstreet, America's first poet."

"How do you remember that stuff?" Neji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you not pay attention in sophomore year English?" Tenten replied

"You didn't sleep through your sophomore year of English?" Neji answered incredulously.

"What are you so afraid of anyways? What do you have against women?"

"Do I sound like I have something again women?" Neji all but sneered.

"Yes as a matter a fact you do!" Tenten yelled at him. "You keep saying we're weaker, that we're inferior that we should confine ourselves to more traditional roles and spend our entire lives doing what you want to do."

"So given the choice you'd rather work for your whole like instead of staying at home all the time?" Neji asked half shocked, half disgusted.

"Yes!"

"That's archaic," he said turning back to his list of names, brushing off her comment as if it were nothing.

"I'm being archaic?!" Tenten screamed followed by what was meant to be her meanest growl. "Ohhh! You…just you… I swear one of these days I'm going to take a knife…"

"See right there, there is your main problem." Neji said disapprovingly, waving a finger at her.

"What this? I'm hardly veiling an attempt I'm probably going to make on your life in the very near future, what's wrong with that?" Tenten asked. "Just because I like to fight doesn't make me any less of a person you know."

"Who ever said anything about you being any less of a person?!" Neji asked throwing his hands up in the air before giving a deep sigh of aggravation. "I truly forgot how annoying you are. You want to know my issue with you? Do you remember spring break in our Junior year and you put on that hockey mask and ran into the boys room with a knife?"

"Why does everyone keep bringing that up?" Tenten asked exasperatedly. "What do you have against my little pranks huh?"

"Actions reflect personality. They're stupid, they're childish, maybe if you'd just shut up for a second guys might actually consider dating you." As soon as he let the words out he knew he'd made a big mistake. Tenten slunk back looking surprised and definitely offended. "Look, I didn't mean it like that."

"Really?" she asked him in a scarily calm and controlled voice. "Because it sounded pretty damn straight forward to me." To Neji's surprise Tenten proceeded to do everything that he expect her not to do. She clenched her fists, sent him a scowl, calmed her face and simply sat back down, before around to face the telephone again before picking it up. Neji briefly thought of apologizing further, it would be logical to try and maintain a good relationship with the only person he'd be working with for who knows how long but he stopped himself. She'd started it, why should he take the first step he turned back to his work, still thinking about the crazy stunts she'd used to pull in high school. Just as he picked up the phone a telephone book wacked him in the back of the head sending his face crashing into the desk.

"Something's never change," he muttered to himself.

* * *

"_So in a stunning twist, our vice president candidates step up a mere day after the former debacle and manage to run a perfectly sensible and level headed argument on economics. Vice Preisdent candidates ladies and gentlemen! I have also warned the people that Asuma was a bit too liberally prone! Perhaps, Hatake is more suited to this position than the ones those air-heads at the convention selected! I wonder what kind of behind the scene catastrophe could have caused a screw up of this unimaginable magnitude. What moron would be stupid enough to incite something like this? Was it deliberate sabotage one must ask? Anyway, you've heard my side of the story, thanks for tuning in! Be sure to come back for my 'Misunderstood, Maniac or Moron' segment on tonight's Political Watch with Dan Rathernot at 7:00!"_

"S-so," Hinata stuttered quickly snapping the TV off and it's prim looking reporter as Tenten barged into the van and collapsed onto the red couch. "How did it go?" Tenten sent her a battered look that made Hinata squeak and quickly turn her attention elsewhere.

"I listened to government officials jab all day about politics, gave the same explanation about fifty times to every senseless politician…" Tenten threw her hands up and walked over towards the cooler.

"Tenten? What happened?" Hinata asked quickly as Tenten fished around inside the ice looking for a particular flavor.

"Absolutely nothing!" Tenten replied slamming a Dr. Pepper down on the dining table as Hinata slipped into the seat directly across from her.

"I thought you hated that stuff," Hinata questioned.

"I do," the exasperated girl muttered, her patience wearing thin. "Your cousin drives me to drink."

"Neji?" Hinata asked in a soft tone, trying to avoid making eye contact with her friend.

"Yes, but don't jump into your psychology crap. He's just being Neji, that's what he does. Just like in high school, only worse. And I used to think…" Tenten stopped and curled her nose with disgust at the memories.

"Think w-what?" Hinata continued as if she was trying to prod Tenten for more information.

"Nah I don't want to talk about it," Tenten sighed taking a large sip of her soda.

"Think he was what? Annoying? Irritating?" Hinata pressed, almost uncharacteristically.

"I though he was cute," Tenten shrugged offhandedly before catching herself. Hinata gave a shy smile as Tenten went bug eyed. "That is…I mean…a moron, he was a..."

"Freudian slip," Hinata said with a benign smile, her blue eyes glancing up almost sympathetically at her friend.

"Damnit Hinata, I thought I told you not to use that psych crap on me!" Tenten yelled as the girl shrank back again, the smile still faintly visible on her pale face.

"Yes, I had a crush on him in school! But you remember the guys we had there, they were either idiots or jerks. Neji was the closest thing we had to a 'gentlemen'. It doesn't matter anymore, we'll just show up to work, not talk to each other…"

"Tenten," Hinata spoke up, her look openly expressing sympathy. "I-I I'm afraid…that it's not going to work out like that."

* * *

"She's pretentious, condescending, insane, psychopathic, vain, assuming person I have ever had the misfortune of working with…" Neji babbled on as Ino saw him off to his car. The woman decided right then and their to never again ask Neji Hyuga about his day. "Then I go and anger her with one little slip of the tongue."

"Well you talk about her so much, I think you may have a thing for her." Ino pointed out with a smile.

"She's not my type," Neji lied climbing into his car.

"Well that valentine from first grade says otherwise," Ino taunted, the smile on her face growing larger.

"How did you know about that?" Neji snapped quickly, his white pupils darting straight towards Ino's face.

"Come on Neji, it was way to grand way to…I don't know…refined to be from anyone else. You were always so big on social etiquette." Ino smiled.

"That was a long time ago! She was so...special, different from the other girls I knew. It doesn't matter anymore," he finished to himself looking frustrated.

"Do you still have a little crush on her?" Ino questioned Neji didn't seem to be paying attention, his lips were curled and hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles had started to whiten. "At least Tenten thought it was sweet," Ino offered, Neji still wasn't listening, instead he turned the key in the ignition.

"I'll see you tomorrow at work," he sighed. Ino watched the black chevy drive off and sighed. This was beginning to look more like a soap opera every day.

**And there we go! I hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So, Obama won held onto the Whitehouse, the Democrats kept the slight lead in the Senate and the Republicans held onto the House of Representatives…so absolutely nothing has changed. Eh, whatever :b Here is my next chapter that really doesn't have a thing to do with politics XD Ah well, once again I'd like to thank all my reviewers! You guys are seriously awesome! This story wouldn't be what it is without you!**

_Febuary 2001_

"Ooooooh," the girls all said as Tenten pulled a large carefully cut and decorated heart shaped valentine from inside her homemade valentines box that rested on the edge of her desk.

"Who's it for Tennie? You gotta a crush on someone?" Sakura asked, her pink hair appearing by the door. Tenten glanced over at the kindergartener whom she knew moderately well from recess. The first grade girls gathered around her and began fawning over the design.

"I…didn't make this," Tenten said looking at the thing still wide eyed from shock. She turned it over trying to find a name. The compliments and admiration stopped and soon descended into a sea of giggles as the girls around her immediately started whispering.

"Somebody's got a secret admirer," Ino's voice sang from the doorway.

"Shut uuuuup," Tenten sang back raising a fist as her eyes drifted back to the valentine. Knowing better than to press Tenten any further the two girls slinked towards the cafeteria by themselves as the bell for lunch rang, laughing all the way.

"No way," Tenten said raising an eyebrow as the two younger girls giggled and nodded during Recess. She spared the quickest of glances over at Neji Hyuga, the boy was sitting cross-legged, eyes closed and hands folded.

"Yes way," Ino insisted. "We went and talked with Lee, he said that Neji told him to put it in your box today since he always gets here early." Tenten's quickest of glances turned into quite a long one as she gazed quizzically at the longhaired boy, her rival since the first month of school.

"Neji Hyuga, can you believe it?" Ino whispered upon seeing that Tenten wasn't as interested in gossiping about it as she was.

"He's so creepy," Sakura agreed. Tenten turned back towards the two. A funny feeling went through her. Neji Hyuga, always so prim and proper. He always acted to grown up, so confident in himself and important. And yet out of all people it was Neji Hyuga who'd given her the gift and was to shy to even sign his name on it. She wanted to laugh as the butterfly's fluttered around in her stomach. She smiled.

"I don't know," she said as the two shocked girls turned towards her. "I think he's pretty sweet."

* * *

_Present Day_

"Your kidding me…you've got to be kidding me," Tenten said in a disbelieving tone looking down at poor Hinata. Hinata bit her lip and looked out the window. "Are you telling me that I have to go on the actual campaign with this conniving, disingenuous, patrionizer for two damn weeks until we meet again for the next debate?"

"Do you read the dictionary for fun?" Hinata whispered quietly looking back up at Tenten with her own look of disbelief.

"These were all words from our senior year English class. Am I the only one who remembers this? Look do you still have your old high school yearbook?" she questioned as she began to pace the van.

"Yearbooks?" Hinata asked curiously as Tenten rummaged around in her cabinet.

"Yes you've got me getting sentimental alright? Do you still keep your yearbooks around? Lee and Guy let me put my old stuff down in their basement when I left. Mine are probably still down their somewhere." Tenten continued rummaging around in the closet.

"The cupboard to your left," Hinata spoke up suddenly. Tenten paused and looked back at her friend. She smiled at Hinata's red face before fishing the book out and setting it down on the table.

"If I was a better person, I'd refrain from even mentioning your own little crush since day one of kindergarten, but I'm not so I already have." Tenten grinned cheekily as she opened the book.

"I'm still not sure why you needed a yearbook," Hinata said as she leaned over to look at the pages.

"To refresh my memory. Here we go…" she said suddenly pointing at a picture. "Neji Hyuga, treasurer, debate club, baseball team, voted most likely to succed. What was I voted again?"

"M-most likely to be arrested within the first week of graduation." Hinata reminded her.

"Well that's not fair, I was already arrested once senior year, well our senior year, your junior year, do you remember that?" she asked offhandedly with a laugh.

"I remember bailing you out if that's what you're asking," Hinata responded, somehow still keeping her silent and composed tone while managing to deadpan it at the same time. Tenten just shook her head and smiled at the memory.

* * *

_April 2012_

"Move, move, move!" Kiba yelled, the utter terror in his voice evident as he busted through the men's cabin at top speeds in nothing but a white t-shirt and his underwear. He lost his balance and stumbled over the coffee table sending silver ware and bags of chips across the floor. In the effort to scramble backwards and avoid the crash Choji had picked up the soda and burger boxes from the table and mashed himself up against the couch. The boys looked at their fallen friend in shock.

"He's gotta knife!" Naruto suddenly yelled busting in after him also moving as fast as his legs could carry him looking like an orange blur. He easily soared over Kiba's body but the force of motion carried him straight into the cabin's clothes closet sending it crashing towards the couch causing Choji leap out of the way throwing his snacks up in the air in the process. The food flew towards the ceiling but ended up hitting the fan just as a killer in a hockey mask and jumped into the room with a bloody looking knife. As soda and beef bits rained down from the roof and most of the guys in the room fled for their lives the killer laughed. It was an evil and maniacal laugh to be sure but also humored and sickeningly familiar. Shikamaru face palmed and Neji gritted his teeth clenched his fists.

"Oh, for the love of…TENTEN!"

"Come on Neji, lighten up," Tenten laughed as he knocked the knife out of her hands and grabbed her by the arm.

"Lighten up? Look at this mess? Do you think this is funny? This is all that acting like a kid will get you!" he said sternly, teeth gritted as he pulled her outside.

"I don't know," Tenten said as if there was something she knew that he didn't. "I certainly got your attention didn't I?" she gave him a coy smile as Neji looked at her strangely.

"Would you grow up already? Act like a lady for once in your life." he asked as she started to laugh again. Her laugh was lighthearted this time, loud and obnoxious maybe but still inviting and friendly at the same time. "Alright, alright," he sighed indicating he was way past ready for her to stop laughing. It was only at this point that he took a good look at her outfit, which consisted only of a hockey mask, catchers chest guard and a white bikini. "Can you at least put some clothes on?" he asked exasperatedly while sending her another look. Tenten shut her mouth but by the look on her face Neji could tell she was losing the fight not to laugh.

"Look I was just having fun," She waved her fake weapon in front of his face. "See, it just looks like metal alright?" Neji snatched it from her hands and held it up towards her face.

"That…isn't…the issue," he said firmly. "This was the polar opposite of how people should act. Especially for a woman."

"Then how should I act? Girly and frilly?" she dared him, looking squarely in the eye.

"That would definitely be preferable to this," Neji huffed sternly. Tenten just grinned back and crossed her arms.

"Well, I'll tell you what, Mr. Clean I'll let you dictate just what I can and cannot do for all of Spring Break, if and only if you can catch me tonight."

"What does that even mean…" Neji just barely got a chance to respond before Tenten turned and bolted, running off and laughing all the while.

* * *

_The Present_

"And that is where any other sane man would've just turned and let you learn your lesson," Ino said with a smirk having joined the group in the middle of Tenten's story.

"Yeah, the problem is he's way to much of a control freak to let it go," Tenten grinned.

"Yeah a control freak that went to jail with you after you two were arrested for disturbing the peace." Ino laughed again shaking her head.

"He also made me pay for those maids that cleaned out the room before the landlord found out." Tenten mumbled.

"You supposed to tell me that's part of his controlling personality to?" Ino questioned with a grin.

"Okay look, all I'm really saying here is that he's never really liked me. In all seriousness he's uptight, anal and a goody two shoes. I'm his polar opposite, free thinking, rebellious and independent. We clash with each other. I don't like him and I can tell you for an honest fact that he definitely doesn't like me."

"Actually," Hinata spoke up, she tried to continue but blushed and stopped herself before she could continue. Tenten and Ino turned in her direction curiously.

"What?" Ino pressed quickly.

"It…it's nothing," Hinata finished with a smile. Tenten just sighed again and rolled her eyes looking back down at the yearbook at her graduation photo.

* * *

_August 20th 2012_

"Checking out already?" Tenten asked crossing her legs, sitting on the hood of a 2001 Chevy Corvette as her tall long haired friend loaded his suitcase into the trunk. The trunk of the car slammed shut as Neji walked back around front to pick up his other suitcase.

"The University of Rochester isn't going to wait for me and neither is life," Neji shrugged as he picked up the other case. "Why are you here Tenten?"

"You could've just applied here in Konoha," Tenten drawled not bothering to look back at him. "Most of us are going their you know and because I'm still on graduation high. We've just finished all 12 standard years of government education and now you want to go to some big shot upstate university in New York ASAP?"

"Rochester is rated 15th in the nation in Political Science," Neji explained simply as he walked back around front.

"Hey, ratings don't make the school," Tenten challenged.

"Hey, the school makes the man," Neji accepted with equal amounts of snark. Tenten smiled as she uncrossed her legs and let them sway back and forth.

"Nice car. Uncle buy it for you?" Tenten asked not really finding anything else to talk about.

"Yep, graduation present," Neji sighed leaning up against the door as silence settled over them.

"Well," Tenten said with a shrug as she finally slid off. "I guess this is it."

"Uh, yeah," Neji acknowledged sheepishly, not really able to find anything to say.

"I'll see ya when I see ya then," Tenten spoke as she began to turn around.

"Hey," Neji said placing a hand on her shoulder. "If it's farwell I'd like you to be informed that…it's been interesting." Tenten raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk.

"In English ice cube," she said socking him in the arm the smirk giving way to a genuine smile. Neji opened his mouth but was only able to manage a sputter before he growled and closed it before looking the other way.

"It's been interesting alright, I'm not saying I'm going to miss you, I'm not even saying I like you in anyway but…hell it's sure going to be a whole lot different without you." He snapped with a smile of his own appearing on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, same here," Tenten smiled as the two pulled in for a hug. "Good luck." she whispered to him.

* * *

_Guess_

"Look, Neji just…he's just an easy target for me okay? He's so orderly, he loves to make everything so tidy and traditional that it's just to easy to mess with him. When I see him everything else just seems so easy because…I don't know! He just irks me! Quite bothering me about it!"

"You see him and everything else seems so temporary, it's so easy because Neji is the one case you can't seem to crack. He gives you purpose and drive to keep going." Hinata diagnosed, finishing her sentence. "That's why you really, really like him."

"What are you? My Psychiatrist?" Tenten snapped. Hinata and Ino just sent her a couple of sympathetic looks.

"Just get some rest, you've got a busy day lined up tomorrow." Ino said patting her on the shoulder as Tenten just shook her head and walked off.

* * *

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No,"

"Do you want to solve your problem?"

"What problem?" Neji demanded.

"You've got issues with women," Temari answered with a smirk not looking up from her cell phone.

"I get along perfectly fine with women," Neji shot back at her.

"Clearly," Temari said rolling her eyes. "Look, I'll cut to the chase, do you think it's possible you may be in love with this girl?"

"Absolutely not," Neji responded immediately. "What do you see in our relationship? Dislike and hate. That's all."

"No matter how many times cats fight there always seem to be plenty of kittens – Abraham Lincoln." Temari quoted still absorbed in her phone.

"Amazing, if you could come up with quotes on the dime like that when we plan speeches we would've won the election by now." Neji retorted as he headed for the door. "You think that because I yell her sometimes and because we get into fights that we are in love?"

"You said it, not me," Temari drawled, snickering as she heard the door slam. "Oh yeah, he's either going to kill her or he's really warming up to her."

**And that's that! :D Thanks for reading and please review! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Now that the whole messy election is over I really have to kick this story in to high gear XD irony. Anyway I'm going to try and get this one done at the same time as my Great Depression story although I'm not nearly as far along with this one. I really tried hard on this chapter but it feels like it lags or is really forced in some areas so don't be afraid to deal out a little constructive criticism. I'd like to thank all my readers and reviewers for being so awesome and I hope you will enjoy this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: The ideas and agendas given by characters in this story may or may not actually be associated with the views of real people from the actual groups. I apologize in advance for any downright ignorance on any subject. **

"_I know what you're thinking, this guy wants to open our borders and legalize narcotics, what else do we need to label this man a moron? He's the very definition of the word, now to be fair he did donate a large sum of money to help people in need but he donated an even larger sum to defend that defense attorney and that money apparently went to fund terrorist bombings in Serejvo. So, I'm labeling Congress Man Izumo fifty percent moron and fifty percent maniac."_

"Oh turn that junk off!" Kiba yelled from the back of the plane. The rest of the group cheered in agreement.

"Hey! This guy happens to be one of our major supporters!" Tenten shot back taking her eyes of the screen for a second for the sole purpose of sending Kiba a death glare.

"Yeah and Izumo is one of ours, sort of radical, but still a supporter." Kiba grinned back. Tenten sighed, this was her first day of travelling with the Democrat candidate and already the whole thing was driving her batty.

"Alright, we're headed to Virgina, a very important swing state, the vote here is critical. I want you all to throw yourselves into your work." Shino said briskly standing up with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Even Benedict Arnold here?" Kiba asked.

"First of all, that name would imply she was on our side at one point in time, second of all it would imply that we are in a cut throat war with an empire that outguns and outmans us, thirdly…"

"Shino, I'm sorry I ever spoke to you on the first day of pre-school, please do assign us our tasks," Kiba jumped in quickly. The man shifted his glasses and sighed.

"Very well, Kiba, you'll be running set up with your new crew. Choji, I want you communicating with the Virginia legislation for catering, Sakura will be running the reception," Shino said shifting his administration process into overdrive flipping out assignment folders to members with super human speed. "Temari, go over your notes and prepare an outline for Kurenai. Neji, Tenten, you two will handling the mail, phone calls and deliveries…"

"Wait, you mean I'm still working with her?" Neji said suddenly forcing his way to the front of the group. "I was under the impression that if she was coming with us that we'd be doing something that was less…involved with each other. At least for awhile."

"You got a very poor impression then," Shino said in an unsympathetic voice finally throwing Neji a folder. "If your folder is marked I need all the info by the same we touchdown in Richmond. So start organizing!"

"Messenger girl again, I have hit a new low in my career." Tenten sighed.

"Yeah, you got my old job," Kiba said with a laugh as he walked off by himself.

* * *

"The meetings with the Virginia Democratic party are our first priority, no calls except those from the big brass in the top positions get to Shino's phone." Neji said looking down at the file as they boarded the Bus in town. "I'm going to go talk to Sakura bout getting a list of names."

"How about I go get the list of names and you can keep waiting on the phones and answering emails." Tenten said quickly jumping up.

"These are my co-workers, I'll get it," Neji said, equally as fast, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her back.

"This is also your job, you should do the important work. Don't you think so mister man of the house?" Tenten grinned knocking the hand away before she turned to face him with biting sarcasm in her voice.

"I would if you didn't try to wheedle your way out of work like a lazy slacker," Neji said folding his arms and leaning down towards her face.

"On the plus side," Tenten said placing her hands on her him and looking squarely up at him. "I've been told I have wonderful eyes." Neji gave her an odd glance as his focus subconsciously drifted towards her eyes. Tenten finally cracked a smile as Neji suddenly felt the urge to smile as well. Temari snickered from her chair by the window as Tenten and Neji quickly looked over at her then at each other again before taking a healthy step back.

"So, I'll go get that folder now," Tenten began awkwardly.

"No, I'll get it," Neji said quickly trying to pull her back. Sakura walked back and held out the folder before slamming it down onto the table.

"There! Now can both of you quit arguing and get back to work!" she said angrily before walking off in a huff.

"Uh, right," Neji said picking up the folder and copying the names down along with the numbers.

"Alright everyone! Game time!" Kiba yelled. "Let's go out there, reassure the constituents and get their money before they change their minds again!" Shino slapped Kiba across the head and out of the van as the crew walked towards the reception hall.

* * *

"Theirs the governor himself," Temari pointed at a tall man in a suit while grabbing a plate from the refreshment stand as she and Neji observed the comings and goings of the politicians. "And the representative of that one district up north."

"No, that was congressional district eight, he's from district 14 remember, he was the one accused in that sexual harassment case." Neji said leaning up against the wall.

"I still say they should have at least kicked him out of office." Temari snarled. "He didn't even wash his hands when he came out the bathroom. Horrible people skills."

"For once, I agree," Neji sighed before turning towards Temari. "How would you know if he washed his hands or not?"

"Speaking of people skills," Temari began with a smug smile changing the subject. "Back on the bus, that was one of the most awkward things, I have ever seen," Temari laughed as she slipped a piece of turkey into her sandwich before tearing into it. "I thought maybe it was just me but you honestly have no people skills do you."

"Have I mentioned how much I hate working with you," Neji asked emotionlessly.

"Several times," Temari snickered between mouthfuls.

"I have people skills. I just don't' waste them on senseless feminist morons who's only purpose is to go out and pick fights with other people." Neji shot at her.

"You know, in about a month, after Halloween in over and Thanksgiving is almost upon us, when the elections are over and I no longer have to worry about losing this job, I'm going to slug you." Temari smirked back Neji just rolled his eyes. "Right, back to the real issue here."

"Their never was an issue," Neji snapped at her again. "My people skills are perfectly fine."

"Yeah, your fascination with her eyes is proof of that," Temari sighed, throwing her paper plate away.

"Have you ever tried carrying on a conversation with that gi…"

"Yes, a little patience and you'll get through it fine, you've just got issues with her." Temari snapped.

"Well I don't even know where to begin with her. What do you talk about with someone that crazy?" Neji asked.

"What do we all talk about?" Temari asked. "Politics. Just go talk to her and try it out."

"You want me to go and talk to a girl I hate simply because you asked me to?"

"Or you could do it because I insulted your people skills," Temari said crossing her arms and leaning up against the wall with her to familiar smirk. "Double dare." Neji looked at her then over at Tenten who was currently waving her hand in front of Shino's doing who knows what.

"Only to prove you wrong," Neji said giving Temari a dirty look. Slowly, Neji pushed off the wall and began strolling across the floor, weaving around the various politicians to Tenten's position. As he got closer, Neji found that Tenten's actions were still making absolutely no sense.

"What are you doing?" Neji demanded as soon as he got to her side.

"Trying to figure out what _**he's**_ doing," Tenten replied observing Shino closely.

"This is his default position, he's waiting for something to go wrong," Neji explained as Shino suddenly snapped to attention, he swiftly marched across the room, snapped his fingers near Choji and pointed to the punch bowl. "It's been diluted." Tenten just watched as Choji hustled over to the table and took the bowl back to the kitchen.

"Still the control freak," Tenten said shoving her hands into her pockets with a sigh. Neji took a step towards her and tried his best to look casual. For Tenten, boredom was setting back in, for Neji it was a very awkward silence.

"So," Neji began immediately cutting the silence. Tenten raised an eyebrow and looked over at him in confusion. Neji uncharacteristically rubbed the back of his head as he formed a question. "Why did you of all people become a republican?" Tenten's eyebrow rose further as she leered cautiously at him.

"Okay, who put you up to this?" she asked firmly.

"Temari," Neji answered without hesitation.

"Temari? Really?" Tenten asked surprised. "Well, my conspiracy theory was way off but okay why do you want to know?"

"If we're going to be working together for the next two weeks, we're going to need to get to know each other better…to at least make life livable." Neji said quickly. Tenten just sent him another suspicious look. "Is their a problem?"

"Call me crazy but I didn't really expect you to come right out and try to start a conversation with me."

"You're right, this is a dare, I'm trying to prove to Temari that I have people skills," Neji stated quickly. Tenten's eyes went wide.

"People skills? You?" Tenten almost snorted, caught herself before a fit of giggling overtook her. The volume began to rise and she rested a hand against the wall to steady herself. Neji just sighed and gently placed his head in his palm. As Tenten's giggles began to turn into howls the people around them began to stare. Quick as a flash before they had anymore time to attract additional attention Shino grabbed Tenten and Neji and shuffled them out the back door.

"Sort it out," was his three word explanation before disappearing back inside. Tenten hit the ground and continued to laugh, sucking in air and clutching her stomach before pushing herself up against the wall beside the door.

"You done?" Neji asked trying to maintain his composure as best he could.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so," Tenten said trying to catch her breath. "People skills…haha, you, heh…high school."

"What?"

"Never mind," Tenten turned her head towards him with a smile as she made herself confortable on the ground. "So, for the sake of…okay just out of curiosity what would we talk about?"

"What else? Politics," Neji said sitting down beside her. "You don't really strike me as a very conservative person."

"Well you don't exactly strike me as Mr. Liberal either," Tenten responded. "Rich family, very traditional, John Lennon like hair…okay two our of three ain't bad."

"It was the economic philosophy. I grew up in a pretty cutthroat environment where money was everything, I saw main house members throw the branch members out a whole lot and I guess that kind of blossomed into the idea that a few rich elitists shouldn't be controlling our economy with say over who gets the jobs or not. I'm not against the rich being rich but they need to be checked somehow to help those less fortunate." Neji gave a deep sigh before giving her a look that said 'your turn'.

"Well alright, you know me, little orphan Tenten, when I was a kid I learned to work for what I wanted and work hard. It didn't seem fair to me when the slacker who did none of the work got a reward for a group effort. So, when I got older and actually had to start paying my own taxes I wasn't to keen on giving the government a cut of my paycheck that may not even be going to help the poor. I want to help the poor people, but that's the job of charities, not the government." Tenten nodded her head and stopped before giving the same sigh Neji had given earlier. "That's about it I guess."

"Well," Neji began looking out at the night sky. "That makes sense I guess."

"Yeah…I guess…yours does to," Tenten admitted shrugging her shoulders. "Though I still don't see how you can hate feminists."

"You mean how can I hate a hippy movement that piggy backed on the civil rights activists and promotes social degradation." Neji asked offhandedly. Tenten's head all but snapped back in his direction. "Shoot." He mumbled.

"We did not piggy back okay.? Did nothing from history class stick in your head? Constitutional ammendments?" she shot at him. Neji immediately opened his mouth before Tenten cut him off. "And we do not promote social degradation."

"Yeah and that was different that the feminist movement," Neji spouted quickly. "Then the fifties came along and you feminists decided if the men were going to act like dogs then why shouldn't you?"

"Look, your making generalizations here, every group has some nuts but majority of us are way more moderate than people like you make us out to be," Tenten replied shoving a finger in his face.

"Just because their generalizations doesn't mean they don't have truth to them. You honestly believe that we're all out to get you!"

"Or maybe you just can't open your mind up far enough you closed minded liberal…!" Tenten finally decided to shut up and tried to walk away quietly before turning and around and grabbing Neji by the collar "This was, fun we should have these talks more often."

"And then you…punched him in the eye," Shikamaru stated trying to repeat the whole story that Tenten had just told her over the phone.

"Look, I didn't want to do it, honestly I didn't if anything I had something totally different on my mind, we can talk and we can agree on stuff while at the same time having totally different views. I really didn't want to punch him but…something clicked in my head, I might actually be in love with Neji."

"So you punched him," Shikamaru said obviously. "That makes sense."

"I panicked, I didn't know what else to do!"

"Well you've still got thirteen days left, you'd better think of something."

"Your concern in touching," Tenten muttered, more to herself than anyone else. She sighed as she hung up. "End of day one, great."

**Whew, I thought that'd never get done! Well thanks for reading and I hope you can review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, so I officially have one of my long running stories all done! Now to kick this thing into high gear! I want to thank all of my reviewers for doing what you guys do and for handing me support, I would be nowhere without you guys. Now! On with the story!**

"So…are we libertarians or…what?" Kisame asked looking through the files.

"You've been working here and you don't even know what party this is?" Tobi asked. If question marks could materialize out of thin air one would have appeared above Tobi's head.

"Hey, I was looking for a job, I had rent due, it was in my line of organizational work I really didn't look at the details to much! You've been here a long time, where do we sit on the political spectrum?" Kisame stared at him. Tobi just froze up and stared back. Kisame sighed as he continued to pour through the gray file cabinets. "Yeah that's what I though. What are we looking for again?"

"Itachi said the campaign plan files for the Democrats were kept here," Tobi said throwing papers randomly off the desk with no idea of what he looking for.

"And we had to break in…because they'd never have given these to us legally," Kisame surmised slowly. Tobi just shrugged. "Well let's get moving then."

"Hai!" Tobi agreed readily flinging open a box and flinging folders across the room indiscriminately. Kisame just sighed again as he checked his phone. He raised his eyes curiously before firing off an email back. He glanced over at Tobi again who was waving a beige folder silently in the air. Kisame nodded wordlessly as the two turned and slipped out the door.

* * *

"Cutting funding for PBS,"

"Oh yes, because heaven knows that's there are no other T.V shows that exist for kids." Tenten shot back, somehow yelling and rolling her eyes at the same time. "My turn…how about those new planes for the French allied forces?"

"Because the military just doesn't have enough guns yet. Not to mention all the fighting that's going on in France." Neji drawled sarcastically, giving Tenten the same look she'd given him. "Now, Social Security,"

"Thank you President Roosevelt for creating the biggest hole in our budget and making our welfare state. Tax Cuts." Tenten rebutted picking up a deck of cards and shuffling through them, daring her opponent to come up with a suitable reply.

"We all offer tax cuts, but when a one percenter making hundreds of times more than ever the upper middle class you have officially earned the right to pay a bit more."

"Statistics say differently."

"Are these the same statistics collected all from mid-western, southern states…you know, the states that vote for you?"

"Oh sure, fuss over our focus groups," Tenten snarked. Upon seeing Neji's un-amused look she continued. "Hey, I've got a whole file on this back at HQ. Remember this argument. When we get their we'll pick this up again. Shikamaru can own you in debate, once Ino pushes him into it."

"I think you're still under the impression that you're on your home turf. For now you get to see how I operate, how we work, my side, mine. Top down economics, bigger government," Neji said. Tenten blinked. A pillow came flying from the back of the trailer nailing Tenten in the head.

"Would you two shut up!?" Kiba barked. "I don't care if he insulted you again and she gave you a black eye again, It's 2 in the morning! I don't want to hear anymore political talk until the next election!" he looked down at his watch. "And that's in 4 and a half years!" Tenten and Neji just looked across the table at each other as the bus kept on travelling in the dark.

"…Cuts to the Interior Department."

"I HATE POLITICS!" Kiba's screams could be heard three states over.

* * *

"Someone what?"

"I'm telling you they trashed the place," Sakura said surveying the building the next day. "We filled out the police report but at this point everything's inconclusive. Secret service is on this case as well. We've got a whole list of suspects but like I said…"

"Right, keep me posted," Shino let out a rare sigh of frustration as he hung up. Life…it sucked sometimes. "Kiba!"

"Yes your fussiness, how may I serve?" Kiba drawled sarcastically glaring at the manager as he dragged himself off the couch.

"Call our friends down in Colorado, as soon as we run through there we're putting these two on a plane back to D.C."

"Excuse me?"

"Neji! Tenten! Get ready, you're heading back on the GOP trail." Neji looked up stunned. His hands slowly raised up a few inches, looking left to right, searching for an answer. Tenten slapped him on the back.

"Well, now I guess we get to see how the other half lives huh?" A smile eight feet wide crossed Tenten's face. "Oh the irony,"

"Did you know that you have the most insufferable smirk in the entire Western Hemisphere?" Neji growled at her.

"I learned from the best," Tenten shot back smugly.

"What's going on?" Neji spoke up quickly.

"Someone broke into the Democratic headquarters in Washington D.C. Everyone just went into high alert, the Feds get really jumpy whenever classifieds are broken into."

"Why? What's missing?" Neji questioned.

"Our entire campaign file. Economic log, ads plans, air time sponsors. Every single thing we need to run a campaign, our manual copies anyway." The two looked over at Tenten almost instinctively.

"What?" she asked catching their glance's. "It wasn't Nixon this time I swear," she retorted sarcastically. "Unless of course you had any extremely sensitive information contained within those files?" Neji snorted as he turned back to Shino and raised an eyebrow. Shino just scowled back and shook his head vehemently.

"I'm sending the two of you back to the GOP, since you're both above suspicion at the moment it's not going to do any harm and I'll need some space to get atop this thing."

"But…" Neji began. Shino held up a hand and walked off leaving Neji behind slack jawed. Tenten just began to laugh, resisting the urge to make another crack at Neji as she quickly ran to the back of the van to begin packing.

* * *

"Well boys?" Hiruzen asked, the faint remains of tabacco still hanging in the air. The pipe in the elder presidents mouth was obvious evidence that the man still smoked. Asuma sat beside his looking faintly interested as a council of generals looked silently at the executive commander.

"Well usually the procedure for us when we loose contact with a vehicle carrying top secret material across a highly volatile area is to send in some scouts to try and asses the situation," a general spoke up, his voice rich with ironic intent. "But you know how this song and dance goes."

"We'll wait it out," Hiruzen nodded, sighing and leaning back in his chair. The staff nodded and mimicked his casual position, chatting with each other. Asuma stared across the smoky, dimly lit room.

"Is this it?" he asked quietly. Hiruzen didn't turn his head, he barely acknowledged the statement. "A military convoy goes missing near Iran, a country that has given us very clear messages to stay the hell away from their borders and you just…?" He stopped, afraid to finish.

"Patience," was the one word response. Asuma sighed to himself, crossed his arms and sat back. The minutes ticked by, Hiruzen lit his pipe again and the generals talked about their latest golf scores until a crackle came over the radio.

"MEI-3 Convoy, is that you guys?" the operator asked.

"Roger that HQ, sorry if we scared you guys like that, we had to take a detour through a radio silence zone to avoid a border patrol. Nothing serious, we'll radio once we're safely over the Turkish border."

"Copy that MEI-3," And with that, the radio contact ceased.

"Well gentlemen, it's been a pleasure as always," Hiruzen said standing up. The generals followed giving him a salute then casually going on their separate ways.

"So…what was the point of all this?" Asuma asked as he walked out the door with his father quickly followed by a crew of secret service agents.

"What would you have done?" Hiruzen spoke up calmly. Asuma rolled his eyes and braced himself for the incoming moral message. "Drones? Soldiers? Being in this kind of position calls for you to look over every situation presented to you as objectively as possible. It's not for the cowardly, the indecisive or the hot headed. It's those kinds of leaders that can destroy a nation."

"Okay, that's exactly what you taught me. I've tried to be the exceptional son, get all the A's, top of the class and all that jazz. Why the review all of a sudden, what have I done…?"

"Just keep that in mind the next time you have a debate," Hiruzen sighed. With that he walked away leaving his son looking both bewildered and infuriated.

* * *

"Can you believe the nerve of that guy?" Asuma complained.

"He is the president," Ino sighed. People said it was bad when she got into her moods but when someone as laid back as Asuma got ticked, he really let loose.

"Well our president is a nosy invasive, morally stuck-up, moronic relic. There's a fact your not going to see in the history books! Does he think that I haven't seen the reports? Does he think I'm deaf? I tell you ever since I was a kid…"

"Internal affairs is here, about a break in at a political office," Shikamaru said poking his head into the room sounding both bored and urgent at the same time.

"Shit," Ino grumbled. "I get to deal with this now." She quickly scribbled down notes on her clipboard and handed it to Shikamaru before firing off a string of texts. "Well, let's go try and clean up this mess."

**I know it's looking kinda convoluted right now but I'll clear it all up, I promise. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this foray into much pretentious political ramblings that probably only I find interesting. Thanks for reading! No seriously, thanks :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well here I am, the first fanfic chapter to be published in my college career. I was barely updating before and now I'm not sure how much time I'll have at this so called school of higher learning but hey I started this story and I promise that I will finish it! Thanks to all the reviewers and folks who add to the fun of writing! Here's the next chapter!**

It could be called an exaggeration to say that Neji and Tenten were completely and utterly lost. This would imply that the two had no chance of ever making their way back to civilized territory. On the other hand one might commit murder before the end of the journey.

"I cannot believe you got us lost," Tenten decided to egg her companion on as they trudged under the sun across the side of the highway.

"Me?! You're the one who insisted that this was a shortcut because you didn't want to take the extra route on the bus!"

"Oh boo hoo, blame me for not wanting to wait like three more hours, stupid managers." Tenten mumbled. "You're the one who didn't want to ask for directions!"

"I assumed we were still in Nebraska!" Neji argued.

"What part of Welcome to Kentucky did you not get?"

"I was sleeping!" Neji grunted. "Look they let us off in Utah, we took a bus to Nebraska where we were supposed to switch then…"

"Excuse me, I think we're forgetting that it was your party organized this little root canal of a trip."

"And it was going fine until you decided 'to hell with planned routes it's quicker to just find a bus that's cutting straight through the state!'" Neji finally snapped, face a genuine tomato red. Tenten snorted at the sight.

"Hey, I'm sorry okay," she said trying to keep herself from giggling anymore. "We'll find a way out." There was almost an audible crack in the air. Neji has lost any semblance or illusion of patience with this girl that he'd had. His bag crashed onto the ground as his hands went into the air.

"What is your damage?!" he roared. Tenten stopped and looked at him surprised. "I'm not the easiest guy to get along with in the world I realize that okay? I'm opinionated, single minded and stubborn. BUT, I seriously think I may have found someone more bull headed than myself! Whenever something goes wrong, whenever something happens that you don't like you lash out whether with your fists or your tongue. Ever since we were kids you've had one thought, how far can you push me before I crack?" Neji continued to roar taking two steps closer. "Well congratulations! You've done it you little creep! I cannot believe I ever saw something in you!"

He breathed, letting his frustration out before finally crossing his arms in front of his torso, he turned his back to her and closed his eyes, obviously a signal for me to move on without him.

Tenten's surprised glance held on her face for a good while longer before it turned into a frown as she processed what he'd said. She glared at Neji, even though she he wasn't looking and then slowly, ever so slowly she responded by raising a hand out to the road and holding out her thumb.

"Fine, I'm not talking to you," she said distantly.

* * *

The first thought that came into Neji's mind when he heard the strains of the 'Village People' told him to panic. Memories started flooding his head of Middle School and his somewhat…ahem, eccentric gym teacher. He desperately looked up and around, trying to locate the strains of the wild 70's disco act.

Tenten's first action when the large khaki green bus appeared over the distant hill was to yank her thumb back towards her body. To hell with the fact that she'd been holding it out for well over an hour now, instinct told her not to get involved with this.

"No, no freaking way," she mumbled, praying that if she held onto her skepticism the combination of cold reality and pure chance before her wouldn't play out.

The two traded nervous looks. Their respective stubbornness, the only thing that had been keeping either of them from moving on was gone. Only one thing remained in there minds. Look as casual as possible, look aloof and for the love of everything sacred don't make eye contact.

The following scene played out like a bad horror film. The faces of scared middle schoolers peaking out the open windows, as the ancient bus creaked along the road while the notes of the late 1970 camp disco sensation "The Village People" pounded out the window. Clearly visible inside were two figures, decked out in striking (and blinding) green jumpsuits moving through the motions of an archaic workout video to the tune of Y.M.C.A.

Neither uttered a word as the bus zoomed past them. Then, just as they were about to breathe the horror film correlations began anew. The bus ground to a halt before throwing itself in reverse and stopping dead in front of the two.

"Tenten! Neji! My faithful students!" The older man in green spandex and jacket yelled as he burst off the bus with all the exuberance of a coyote in a petting zoo.

"Fuck me," Tenten blurted out. The man didn't seem to notice and the two found themselves in a particularly passionate embrace. Neji and Tenten shared the same look of sheer helplessness both glancing to each other for a way out.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" he followed setting them down with a broad cheery grin spread across his face.

"Uh…," Neji thought fast, summoning the wit to concoct a quick lie. "Nothing," well so much for wit. "We're just…walking to the next town, no need to stop on our account."

"Nonsense!" Yelled Guy. "It's been years! The least I can do for you is give you a lift!"

The two felt themselves forcefully loaded onto the bus as another green blur whizzed past. With there bags loaded into the overhead compartments and there bodies thrown forcefully onto the same green khaki seats the second blur knocked on the dashboard and the driver took off.

"Now remember kids!" the man shouted mightily, "While I am legally obligated to keep you in your seats safely fastened, tension in the hands and legs can lead to muscular and skeletal problems later in life and often do occur on long vehicle rides so in your seats please FOLOW LEE'S LEAD AS WE ALL DANCE TO YOUTH! LEE TAKE IT AWAY!" The folks from the village began to blast out of the bus speakers again as Lee shot the two a flashy smile and raised his arms in the air.

The kids half-heartedly joined in more out of broken reluctance than actual moving with the motions. Neji and Tenten traded looks yet again having both gone through the experience themselves.

"You still run a summer camp old man?" Tenten said attempting a joke and she and Neji slid carefully back to a safe distance.

"Of course! The Flames of Youth must be cultivated while ones is in the prime of there uh…well…um…youth I guess." He replied mulling over his sentence before shaking it from his mind. "So, what brings my two youthful students out so close to Konoha, home of Miato Gai's summer camp for the youthful?"

"Politics," the two chimed simultaneously.

"I hope you two aren't still at each other throats about that after all these years." Guy Laughed. The two traded sheepish glances again. "Especially seeing as how you were such good friends in your younger years."

"Yeah, that's us, political buddies to the end," Tenten shrugged half-heartedly.

"Wonderful to hear!" Gai practically yelled in tears. Neji cringed at the sight. His uncle had sent him and Tenten to Gai's camp all three years of middle school and just when he'd thought it was safe the so called 'handsome devil' turned up at high school as the gym leader. Then through the senior mentorship program he'd been paired with Lee and Tenten, yes he knew all about Gai.

"You know, it seems kind of convenient that you guys came along like this…like really convenient." Neji began.

"Well you know that I take my summer camp out and around at this time of year," Gai explained. "We're only about an hour from Konoha, when we stop there I'll drop the kids off and then we can go get better transportation for you."

"Thanks but that's really not necessary…"

"Nonsense!" Gai yelled happily. "I can rightly leave two of my former students alone by the side of the road in the midst of this wilderness! We shall return to Konoha, get you proper transportation and re-ignite our bonds of YOUTH!"

"Great, thanks." was the sarcastic reply.

* * *

"The badges from the FBI sure got onto this faster than I would've liked," Kisame growled as he and Tobi walked through the door to a room stuffed to the brim with papers and file cabinets of all kinds. Hidan and Itachi turned there attention towards him, giving small nods by way of greeting. "We must've been pulled over three times just driving back."

"Probably because you're blue!" Tobi laughed. Kisame instantly went melancholy, hiding his face.

"You got my files then?" a voice graveled out. Kisame portrayed no emotion as he chucked the folder in the voices direction.

"And what the hell would that be?" Hidan questioned, raising an eyebrow sounding both annoyed and curious at the same time.

"Just what we need to blow out the competition," a tall figure rose from his cold metal desk. He flipped his stitched wrist to display the brown file and pulled a whole set of papers from it. Soulless black eyes scanning it back and forth.

"And I repeat, the hell is that?" Hidan asked.

"A list of blackmail material we can use to turn the inner workings of the party against each other?!" Tobi suggested jumping in the air and waving a hand.

"No that would be idiotic," even with his back turned the malicious glee in Kakazu's voice was evident "You should know that no matter what you posses. Charisma, complete knowledge of the system, perfect strategy, the only thing that matters in this game, in any game, is cold hard cash."

"Um 'scuse me moron, that doesn't look like cash to me," Hidan huffed. Kakazu growled.

"Oh it's not our money, it's theres," he pulled out a list of names from the paper and the mouth beneath his mask gave a low rumble of satisfaction.

* * *

"All right everybody! LET'S GO!" Miato Gai shouted jumping off the hot, sweaty bus as the tired and weary kids followed. Groggily, Neji held up a hand to shield himself from the sun. Out of the corner of his eye he swore that he saw some kids look around for a quick escape route.

It was Tenten who snapped him out of his mid-day trance.

"Man look at this place, it hasn't changed one bit has it," she laughed. Neji scanned the environment. She was right, the paint was peeling off the brown cabins, the ground was covered with a layer of dust that would be whipped up into the air with a strong wind, a few green trees lay dotted over the landscape and the entire vicinity smelled vaguely of baked beans and three day old juice boxes. Yep, just the way he'd left it.

"Remember the time I dug that hole under your 'meditation tree'," Tenten laughed. "It was so deep that when you sat down you disappeared so fast and all we could see was your legs sticking up and flailing about."

"No, I prefer to recall the look on your face when you woke up in the middle of the corn field after we hauled your bed out there." Neji replied slyly.

"That was you?"

"You're a sound sleeper."

"Oh yeah, how about when you went into the outhouse and I hooked it up to the tractor and dragged you half a mile before you jumped out?"

"What about when we stacked 7 beds on top of each other when you were asleep and you woke up four inches from the ceiling?"

"That one went to far," Tenten said crossing her arms. The two sent each other hard looks before they dissolved into stupid nostalgic smiles.

"Okay troops!" Gai's voice rang as he placed a hand on each of there shoulders. The two quickly averted there eyes, not wanting to be caught, heaven forbid enjoying the others company. "The kids have two hours free time before dinner. I was going to head into town for some supplies, want to tag along or would you rather wait here?"

"We'll go with you," the duo chorused.

"Excellent! To the bus!" Gai laughed jovially. As they drove past the gates of the camp and into the city Tenten began to notice the condition of the streets. Konoha had never been large but it was a fairly good sized town. Normally it was filled with people bustling back and forth from work, cars filling up the lanes, compared to those days it seemed almost deserted.

"The city…really let itself go huh?" Tenten choked out.

"Well the job market's not doing so hot no, but if we clean up the city some, get some people back here the buisness' will come back! I'm sure of it," Gai laughed. Tenten looked over at Neji. Normally, the man's face was an unreadable block but from his furrowed brow she guessed the same thoughts were running through his head. Neither had been back since after college. It was…frightening how much things had changed in such a short amount of time.

"Well here we are, I'll be awhile, you two know where the bus station is so I'll leave you to it," Gai called heading for the market.

"Look at this place," Tenten sighed. She'd never been to fond of the city but it's where she'd grown up, the place she'd called home.

"Neji? Tenten? Is that you guys?" A new voice entered the scene as the two casually turned there heads.

"Naruto?"

**Well, the plot has been set, the characters are learning to get along more and we are entering act III. I hope you enjoyed please review and I'll get back as soon as possible (that may be awhile, college schedules are insane)**


	14. Chapter 14

**That was like, the fastest update I've done in years. Lol, I really loved writing this chapter, the pace picks up and we finally get a piece of a coherent plot that's (hopefully) had so much buildup now. As usual I'd like to thank all my followers, you guys rock! Anyway, yeah, I hope you guys enjoy reading. The NejiTen also peaks it's head here, I hope I can develop it better than I did in my other stories, ah well, on with the show!**

"What's the unlikely duo of a liberal wuss and a right wing nut job doing all the way back out here in the sticks?" Naruto laughed in his natural dopey homespun voice. Just enough to get on your nerves but sincere and good natured enough to make you forgive him at the same time. The man put his hands behind his head as he'd been doing ever since the first grade and grinned at the two. Neji and Tenten smiled back sheepishly.

"I think the better question would be what're you still doing down here in the sticks?" Neji echoed somewhat smugly.

"Yeah, I thought you were doing a B.A in business at KAU," Tenten agreed though her smile was somewhat more relieved at seeing the familiar face.

"Yep, I also did a minor in political science then came back here and ran for mayor."

"Mayor?!" the two bellowed. Neji stood in shock while Tenten threw her head back and laughed.

"Didn't like the direction the city was headin, so I decided to to clean it up," Naruto smiled shrugging his shoulders.

"Why am I not surprised?" Tenten exclaimed. "Guess you finally got around to backing up all those things you used to shout as a kid. I'm gonna be mayor, I'm gonna be president someday and all that."

"Hey, that was a long time ago," Naruto snickered a bit. "But you still haven't answered my question, just what are you two doing out here?" Neji and Tenten spared each other a glance.

"We got on the wrong bus and someone decided it would be better to go on intuition," Neji spoke in a tranquil tone with a small amount of humor creeping into his voice.

"Good grief it's high school all over again," Naruto muttered. "Where would you be heading out to next?"

"Winchester, Maryland, not to far from D.C itself." Neji said. "At least that's where we were supposed to go next."

"Don't worry then, you got time. Bus leave at 7:00, in the meantime," he said approaching the two. "I'm out here with some other folks doing a little community service what'ya say you do a solid for your old hometown and help us out."

"Well…" Neji stuttered initially. "I don't know….what I mean is…"

"Sure we'll do it!" Tenten broke in with a grin. "If we have time then why not."

"Well!" Neji began again as Naruto gave him a slight push forward.

"Relax Hyuga we'll put you on something where your hands will be safe, you don't have to worry about your pedicure." Naruto joked.

"That was one time in sophomore year, ONE TIME!" Neji chided pretentiously. "Besides pedicures are for your toes."

* * *

"I hate seeing the orphanage like this, I grew up here y'know," Tenten sighed uprooting a post of the decayed wooden gray fence scanning the old red brick building that she used to live in.

"And now you're back to clean it up, convenient," Naruto nodded putting on a pair of black working gloves and joining her.

"Hey you grew up here to, show some respect." Tenten shot back brow already damp from sweat.

"Okay Ms. Hotshot speech writer being from Washington D.C, tell me, you respect your home now?"

"Three bucks for coffee in the morning and the long hours for the conservatives aren't exactly glamorous." She mused.

"Well better than hangin around here I'm sure." Naruto grinned at her. "So what's up with Neji anyway?"

"Eh he has issues,"

"Not anymore than you do," Naruto challenged.

"Hey don't you try and preach to me, you taught me how pull most of the stuff we did way back when." Tenten smiled, spring days and plenty of shaving cream, ah memories.

"Yeah way back then. You still act like the ADD sugar raised maniac like you did back when we were 8?" Naruto said humor fully with a raised eyelid.

"It's how I relieve stress." Tenten shrugged hoping it would serve as a satisfactory explanation. There was a short silence and hastily Tenten spoke up again. "Can you blame me, working with that tightwad is no easy feat let me tell you."

"Look, I know you're not crazy, you know you're not crazy but from I've been hearing you've been more than just odd. I know you look at Neji like a challenge, ever since that day in elementary school…"

"it's not that," Tenten cut in. "I do look at him as a challenge, that's all it was in school sure, then I started to, you know respect him some and he began to respect me more as well. I got scared, I thought that once we worked out all our differences we'd just drift apart. That I'd become a nobody to him because…I guess I've always kinda had a thing for him and now after all these years, I love him, I love him a lot." Tenten thanked God that the light was dimming. Had it been any earlier Naruto would've been able to see the new shade her face had turned.

"Feel better?" Naruto asked cheekily. Tenten glared at him and the blonde just shrugged indifferently. "Look, you should know by now that Neji doesn't like people for who they pretend to be. He appreciates…integrity and oh heaven forbid," he paused dramatically as his dirt streaked face came alongside hers "Honesty."

"Alright, alright you've made your point." Tenten said fully annoyed, knocking his cranium aside. "Just don't let Neji know about this, after all we've been through he'd take that as romantic interest."

"Well that kinda came outta nowhere," Naruto pondered holding a stack of fence posts in his arms. "You know what Freud has to say about that."

"Don't start with me Naruto," Tenten deadpanned as she began to dig through the dirt to remove a particularly stubborn section. "I didn't bare my soul to someone to have myself psycho-analyzed again."

"Hey," Naruto said elbowing Tenten in the ribs. "Check out Hyuga."

"Would you knock it off alre…"

"No, really I mean check it out." Naruto motioned to the man. Neji Hyuga's face contorted into a glare as he tried to melt the object of his pure ire, a paint can lid.

"No damage to the nails my ass," Naruto huffed mimicking Neji's voice as the Hyuga set the can down in obvious frustration and picked up a screwdriver to pry the lid with.

"Oh sweet nail filer my love, it won't be long until we are united once more," Tenten chimed in cheekily. It was Naruto's turn to elbow her in the side. She gave him a confused glance and he nodded his head at Neji. The girl sighed resting a hand on her hip, then with a thankful smile she approached Neji.

"You need help with that?" she asked with a half apologetic, half playful grin on her face. He gave her a look with his unnerving white pupils, then with a look of surrender her handed the paint can to her.

* * *

"Thanks for your help you guys." Naruto said as the greyhound bus doors opened.

"Thank you," Tenten returned winking at him as she gave him a quick embrace.

"Do not let this foolish bureaucratic system sully your youthful bonds! This nation was founded on the belief that all people no matter race, creed or sex could come together in a harmonious society!" Gai yelled suddenly looking down at his students with tears in his eyes.

"I thought you were Japanese," Neji interjected skeptically.

"I AM!" Gai yelled collapsing on his hands and knees.

"Oooookay," Tenten finished as the two waved goodbye. The bus kicked into gear and drove slowly away as Naruto and Iruka casually strolled away of course leaving Gai by the side of the road with Lee to bemoan the lost youth.

The wheels slowly turned against the asphalt as Tenten took another look back at the city. She smiled making a mental note to return again after the elections were over. The steady movements and hazy atmosphere over took Neji as his eyelids started to grow heavier.

"Hey…Neji" Tenten asked in the dim light of the bus.

"Mmm?" came the sleepy reply, Neji opened his eyes, white orbs staring up at her expecting nothing but stupidity.

"I wanted to say that…I'm sorry for the way I've been acting towards you." She said with some hesitation. The faint sunlight behind her spread across the skyline in an array of evening colors. Neji's eyebrow went higher, interest piqued. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've been more than fair with me and compromised your views some to keep this…this glass fragile asinine bond we call a relationship from becoming an all out brawl again. I still say you've got the sense of an orangutan on drugs but…I'm worried what that makes me."

"You really mean it don't you?" Neji asked with some surprise evident in his voice. He straightened up in his navy blue seat and gave her a long look. Tenten gave him a curious one back. "Thanks, If I'm being truthful I…guess….I'm kind of jealous that you were the smarter one in school, that I had to measure up somehow."

"Ah don't get all deep on me now," Tenten grinned swatting his arm averting her eyes with embarrassment. "I'm just glad we're finally on good terms."

"So am I," Neji said, lips transforming into a real honest to goodness smile.

* * *

"Just need you to sign these kid," Naruto sighed as he looked down at the paper work in front of him. He took a look at the figure, Iruka Umino, accountant and financer. The man laughed.

"Ever have second thoughts about the job?" he asked.

"Every single day," Naruto groaned. "Tell me, just what am I signing or giving authorization for this time?"

"Well it's our monthly donation for the democratic convention, I just need a your signature to approve the money transfer." Iruka grinned, Naruto nodded and set the papers back down on his wooden desk, quickly scanning it for a pen. Finding none he spun in his chair attempting to search through the mess of papers behind him.

"Here, use mine," Iruka grinned tossing him a smooth black and golden cylinder. Naruto eyed it admiringly and glanced back up. "My fathers," Iruka explained. Naruto nodded and scribbled his signature across the papers and handed it back.

"Well, I'm about done," Naruto yawned placing a hand over his mouth.

"Yeah," Iruka agreed. "I'm gonna pack up, and head out soon. Just need to deposit this stuff in the safe. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night," Naruto yawned back as Iruka disappeared out the door. Naruto gave an audible yawn as he rested his feet up on the desk in front of him. The lamp cast long shadows in his small office. For a moment the thought of being all alone in the building sent a chill down his spine, casually he shrugged it off. Instead he decided to run over his to-do list mentally before double checking it with the schedule on his desk. Satisfied he sluggishly picked himself up and walked out the door. Locking it behind him.

He walked briskly down the hall despite his drowsiness, encouraged by the thought of a container of chicken ramen in his cupboard back home. As he came up to a pathway intersection there was a crash in the distance. Naruto paused, he was supposed to be one of the only other people in City Hall right now. Cautiously, he turned and looked down the hall that led to the basement…and Iruka's office.

"What the hell?" As Naruto walked carefully down the steps holding up his cellphone for light he spied a familiar looking pen on the ground. Alarmed he stood up and pressed a speed dial button. The two night guards arrived in quickly.

"What's goin on sir?" one asking immediately, hand on his gun. Naruto motioned for them to follow him and the three quickly jogged to Iruka's office. The light was still on, the door hung wide open and there was a trace of blood leading away from it.

"Get someone to lock the doors at the atrium now!" Naruto demanded. "Iruka! Where's Iruka?"

"We have a situation down at city hall, we need a team down here now," the first guard said into his radio. Naruto balled his fists as he looked around helplessely. Who could've done this, and why?

* * *

"What do you mean you've withdrawing, you know what happens if we loose you, there goes the 9 southern districts in Oregon! That's going to make our chances in the area slim to none!" Ino barked over the phone, furiously scribbling notes and handing them off to various office members. The place was in chaos, phones ringing every five seconds, furious workers pounding away at there computers and in the middle of it all a half dozen people stood around Ino awaiting any kind of news.

Shikamaru took a cautious glance over at his boss. With all the pressure that was being placed on her he was betting she was going to erupt under it sooner or later.

"MISSING!" And there she went. "Papers gone? You know what the chances of this are? Okay fine I can tell your upset I'll call you back!"

"Damnit!" she yelled throwing the receiver down. "What the hell is going on? And where's Saskue."

"Right here," a monotone broke into the chaos.

"I don't want this getting out to the press. Be sure to keep a lid on this for as long as possible." Ino groaned.

"Done," Saskue nodded rushing off.

"Well, you wanted me to see how you're people did things," Neji muttered to Tenten as they walked in.

"I take it back," Tenten breathed leaning towards Shikamaru. "What's going on?"

"Our sponsors are dropping for the face of the earth," Shikamaru groaned.

"People?"

"The people, the paperwork, the money, everything. Every foothold we've got in this race…" Shikamaru pondered, his own level voice marked by concern. He looked up with annoyance at the bright lights as if they were the cause of it all. "I hate nights like this. Ugh, every foothold we've got in the race…"

"Every foothold we've got in this race is being blown straight to hell by some kind of violent criminals who think this is fucking Soviet Russia and anything goes in elections!" Ino roared storming over towards them. "Tenten, Shikamaru, office, now!" Neji looked shocked at Ino, who he'd never seen truly angry before. However, he seemed forgotten in the chaos, simply following Tenten.

"We have evidence of foul play?" Shikamaru drawled inside the white office space along with the other members of the campaign.

"Foul play? Oh there's foul play alright. To many coincidences to be random. FBI director called me earlier, pissed off about what was going on and he told me in no uncertain terms that we're being targeted." Ino yelled. "No money means no broadcasts, no papers to back us up, no rallies, no way to pay the staff. The hell are we doing just sitting here?" Ino looked like she was on the edge of a full nervous brake down as she buried her head in her hands.

At that moment Asuma strolled into the room, looking level headed and mellow as ever. All evidence of his former anger gone. This was the stern patient man everyone in the campaign had been trying to make him out to be. Slowly he placed a hand on Ino's shoulder and brought her head back up.

"We'll get through this people," he stated calmly looking at a cigarette carefully before sliding it back into it's container. "But we need to hang together. I just spoke with an FBI administrator and he's advised us to wait."

"Well it may just be me," Tenten spoke up, the entire office turned to look at her stern and for once serious face. "But I guess most of you don't enjoy the prospect of just sitting here helplessly." Neji eyed her with surprise and admiration. "So I suggest we take the fight to them."

**Well there you have it, a full length update! Good? Bad? Mediocre? Leave a review I'd love to hear from you! Until next time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**HA! A new chapter! Eat it college schedules, I've played your game before! Okay so not really, I've had like zero time to do much anything related to fanfiction over the past couple of months but now that it's Christmas break I'm going to try and get into the habit of writing a little bit each day. I hope you enjoy this chapter because it was seriously a blast to write. Sometimes I forget why I started doing fan fiction and then I remember it's because I have a passion for writing and because I love playing around with other peoples characters :b Anywho, thanks for reading I hope you enjoy!**

"Useless." The tone sounded calm, almost melodic, but the subjects face and mannerisms betrayed his cold malicious nature. "This one may have been the easiest of all."

"They're all important Sasori, this one has hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled through a support fund to Yuhi's campaign," the dark voice replied. Through his swollen eyes Iruka peered to the best of his abilities at his captors. Kakazu didn't even give him a second glance. The man simply flipped through his book and checked another name off. The warehouse was dark but small pockets of light illuminated the seemingly endless rows of boxes.

"This is getting real old Kakazu, if we drag any more bodies down here we'll draw to much attention." Sasori sighed, upon getting no reaction he decided to prod him further. "Of course dragging body bags to an old warehouse in this part of town at all hours of the night wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention right?"

"Shut up," Kakazu growled in annoyance. "I've planned it all, just tell me that you got the papers." Sasori nodded and threw him a suitcase.

"I took the liberty of sorting them in the order they were captured. All of them had the files you wanted." Sasori continued picking Iruka up by the collar almost effortlessly. Kakazu chuckled as he caught it and examined the black type.

"So nice of them to keep manual backups of all this information, it'll be simple to glean what we need. Take him to the basement like the rest." Kakazu finished as an afterthought.

"Can we get going now?" a voice cut in.

"No Deidara, not yet, I still have to work the technical side of all this." Iruka would've gasped in shock as he saw the gleaming mass of golden hair come into view. Deidara, still dressed in his pressed tuxedo walked into the light.

"You spineless traitor, throwing your support behind a group like this," Iruka rasped, spitting in Deidara's general direction. Kakazu's head turned slowly, he gave Sasori a dull look. The rusty red haired man in turn frowned down at Iruka and gave him a swift punch to the stomach.

"Apparently I didn't beat you hard enough," he whispered. Deidara's voice cracked a laugh.

"Throwing my support? What makes you think I haven't been a part of this group since the beginning?" he asked lifting his hands in amusement.

"We're entrepreneurs not politicians," Kakazu shrugged, returning to his hit list.

"Do you know how much I'd have to give up to be president? How much freedom? It's so much easier and rewarding to create art without having to worry about the needs of these droning mindless masses," Deidara cackled leaning towards Iruka's face.

"Deidara," Kakuzu said warningly, his eyes glaring down.

"Oh give it a rest Kakazu," Deidara said rolling his visible eye. "It's not like he's going anywhere. Besides, it's like you said right? It's all about the money." Kakazu scoffed, still mumbling about the people he had to work with while Deidara continued.

"It's pretty simply actually," Deidara continued. "All these constituents, the prominent ones who line the pockets of the politicians disappear. The political parties go into disarray, some of our more…fanatical members relish in their social change while we use the upheaval to slide all this money we've accumulated out of the country under the radar."

"In the guise of high risk investment stock options tradable into francs in Liechtenstein before using a selection of offshore banks to wire them to a selection of several Swiss accounts." Kakazu finished swiftly and nonchalantly. Deidara and even Iruka stared at the man.

"Sure…." Deidara eventually spoke up. "That to. But that's beside the point! By the time the authorities piece together what's happened we'll be long gone. And each and everyone of us gets off scott free with what they want. Hidan gets his social change, Kakazu gets his payoff and I get to go out on a bang...Sasori my man, take this one down to the holding cells."

"You take him," Sasori replied, occupied with his own work. "You did most of the talking with him."

"Since when does that make someone my responsibility?!" Deidara yelled. Iruka scowled as he looked over the group. Insane and…dysfunctional or not, he was sure that everyone in the political world would be feeling the effects of there actions very soon.

* * *

"The IRS can't trace this since a lot of these transfers were off the books." Ino's face went slightly red as she tugged at her collar. "And we can't get help from the Federal Marshalls as their probably working the abduction cases. Secret Service is obviously tied up elsewhere and the CIA sure as hell isn't going near this one."

"Up the creek without a paddle…or even a canoe, who does that leave us with?" Asuma asked- pensively folding his hands.

"That leaves us," Tenten said, all eyes turned towards her again. "Government is supposed to exist to serve the people and maybe we always haven't been honest to that ideal. Honestly, we've been pretty stupid lately. We've worked around the system, we haven't been completely honest with everyone and we've all gone off the rails everyone once in awhile…" a cough was heard from Shikamaru's direction.

"Myself in included." She sighed glancing towards Asuma and Neji who both frowned, though out of acknowledgement. "What we need to do now is get over these stupid pointless arguments and get down to the real problem."

"Alright, then what's first?" Ino asked. Tenten tilted her head before she realized the gravity of the situation.

"Wha-what? Why're you asking me?" she asked wide eyed looking over the faces in the room that were now staring at her expectantly.

"Your idea, your plan, you lead." Shikamaru shrugged behind her. If Tenten didn't know him better she could've sworn she saw a smile pass his lips. "Or did you have someone else in mind?

"I…I, well you're always the one coming up with the plans." She said trying to hide the sudden anxiety and desperation in her voice.

"Tenten…" Shikamaru said giving her a slight grin. The girl glared at him before she reluctantly turned around and began to speak.

"Okay, okay…fine. The first thing we need to do is identify who are attackers are I guess…?" she cast a questioning glance back at Shikamaru. He shrugged back, eyes still half closed and hands behinds his head as if to say "what am I now, the new secretary of defense?"

"They're obviously not here among us or why would they go through the trouble of breaking into your offices just to get the information?" Neji broke in suddenly. Tenten gave a deep sigh of relief inside, thankful that he would care to back her up.

"And it's not the Democratic party because they're in the same situation. It's not someone in the political arena itself because…" she paused suddenly and looked at Asuma. "What're the chances that our 'friends' were hiding out in Washington somewhere?"

"You mean like security wise?" Asuma replied raising an eyebrow, prodding the fresh cigarette in his fingers. "Well the departments scanned everybody leaving the inner…hell the D.C area in general. If they were here, they're long gone by now."

"All things considered the chances of these people having an office somewhere in the city are pretty good. Political connections, easy access to information and the satisfaction of hiding right under our noses this whole time. These people will be arrogant, old money rich and have a web of all the worst connections." Ino followed adjusting her clipboard and scribbling down notes.

"And the only people who fit that bill who we haven't already ruled out are those Patriot Party freaks."

"Let's not generalize here," Ino sighed as she began sifting through papers in her desk.

"Hey they all wear the same outfit, two wears masks and I'm pretty sure their public relations liaison's skin color is blue, I'm sorry but I think that qualifies." Tenten said raising an eyebrow.

"No I mean they're not the original Patriot Party, there've been at least twenty patriot parties in the last 245 years of American history." Ino said rolling her eyes as she sat down at the desk and turned on her laptop. "This latest group is just an offshoot on a smaller Patriot Party from out west. They hit the big time when Itachi Uchiha and Deidara joined put them on the map and they got enough funding to start campaigning a year later. Expert opinion?" she asked looking at Shikamaru. He lazily started back but knew better than to cross Ino again and simply sighed.

"It's not the most solid lead I've heard of by a long shot but it looks like the only one we've got right now."

"Any idea where they might have a base of operations then? Or at least someplace where they might be keeping their…hostages?" Asuma replied leaning over her shoulder with rapt interest. This sudden talk of cut throat politics and criminology had drawn his attention like a kid in a candy store.

"Not really," Ino sighed. "There's no one city that they operate out of and their private holdings list in the hundreds. By the time every force we contact could get warrants to search the place they'd be long gone."

"Then if we can't find them we'll have to make them come to us." Tenten snapped suddenly. Ino sent her a skeptical look.

"And how do you propose that we get a group of criminal masterminds to risk everything and come out into the open? They only go after high profile targets, who do we have….that they could possibly…want?" One by one all eyes turned forward until every head in the room had trained their focus upon the unlucky victim. The uneasy face of Asuma Sarutobi looked back.

"Ah crap," was all he muttered.

* * *

"Tenten,"

"Neji, if the next words out of your mouth is not momentous zeal for this...sting operation then don't talk."

"Tenten,"

"It's seemless, we got Shikamaru overseeing the whole thing, it'll go off without a hitch."

"TENTEN!" Neji shouted grabbing the woman's shoulder and pulling her forcefully. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I'm saving this country from a group of elitist kidnappers and criminal scum," Tenten grinned placing her hands on her hips. "Face it, you would do the same thing in my place wouldn't you?"

"Well…of course but," Neji began giving her a serious glare.

"Look I've argued with you enough to last two lifetimes, let's not go down this road again," she said, lips still curled into a smirk as she began to loosen herself from his grip and folding her arms. "Don't worry, we find their asses and we kick em to Tahiti, plain and simple."

"And you're not doing it without me!" the cool voice pierced. Tenten stopped and gave him a surprised look. Everything about his face glowered with, with well sincerity.

"You mean after all we've been through, you seriously still want to tag along with me?" she questioned bemusedly.

"A Hyuga always finishes what he starts," He answered with an air of arrogance before his tone softened to gentle humor. "Besides, someone's got to keep an eye on you." There was silence between the two as their eyes connected.

"Neji, you are one strange human being." She finally spoke.

"And you're quite a special one," Neji replied amiably. Looking like he'd caught himself saying something stupid, the man turned his head so she wouldn't see the change in his complexion. Tenten raised an eyebrow as she felt a laugh swell up in her throat. Who would've thought that little boy would've grown up to be…so sweet.

Tenten shook her head, perhaps put off by her own sappiness. She settled for a broad satisfied grin and she slapped him across the back hard causing him to stumble.

"Come on then," she said bravely, the cocky smile plainly plastered across her features. "Let's go kick some tail."

**So a quick little search on Google and I discovered that new Swiss regulations make than financial jarbble completely pointless. This is why nobody writes fan fiction about banks, it's long and it's kinda boring (this coming from a guy whose writing a story about politics…so take that statement with a grain of salt ^_^')**

**Next chapter, my poorly contrived plot clichés hit the proverbial fan! Thanks for tuning it!**


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